Help! Falling Flue Tiles!

[Damon]

I wanted to put in a wood stove and pipe it through my secondary flue on the backside of my fireplace flue. Well this evening I was sitting here and I heard the some shifting of the flue tiles. I went down stairs and upon further inspection, I noticed that I lost the first two tiles. The first two tiles slid completely down. The first tile crumbled, but the second tile is intact, just fallen lower than it should be. My question is what would be my best and cheapest plan of action? Can I re-line after I remove what tiles have fallen and are loose or do I remove all of the tiles? Can I use a stainless steel flue re-lining kit without my ceramic flue tiles, or do I need to have my chimney re-tiled?

 

[Todd]

You can bust up the tiles or remove and put a stainless liner inplace of it. But I think the stainless liner requires an insulation wrap if there is no clay tiles.

 

[elkimmeg]

I have seen similar things happen before the stupid mason tacks a couple of cement nails to hold up the first flue. Eventually they rust out and the clay liner falls down . since all the weight is down resting on the first line expect all to fall down sooner or later. A throat built correctly incorporates building cement suport to support the firs liner in the throat.

Boy do I hate shoddy workmanship but on the other hand its job security being an inspector.

You might as well break out the rest of the fireplace flues because if you lin it one that lets go will ruin the liner. Good news you will have plenty of room for your insulated stainless steel liner

That is correct it now has to be insulated and listed to UL1777

 

[Damon]

Thank you guys for the HELP
After doing some research
i saw an article somewhere on the internet, and it statedt hat it doesnt half to be insulated if the chimney is in the center of the home?
is this true?

how do i get the rest of the flue tiles to slide down to be broke up and removed?

 

[fraxinus]

Check out the possibility of a poured liner (www.supaflu.com is one). You'll have to remove the broken tiles, but the rest can stay and will be sealed and strengthened by the poured liner. Insulation will be automatic as well.

 

[jtp10181]

If you start with an "unlined" chimney (no flue tiles) and plan on installing a SS liner it MUST be insulated to meet code and UL1777. Even if one section does not have flue tiles it would be best to insulate the liner all the way down. Another option is the poured liner fraxinus mentioned.

 

[Gooserider]

Thank you guys for the HELP
After doing some research
i saw an article somewhere on the internet, and it statedt hat it doesnt half to be insulated if the chimney is in the center of the home?
is this true?

how do i get the rest of the flue tiles to slide down to be broke up and removed?

The insulation does two things for you -

First, it improves the performance of the chimney by keeping the smoke from cooling down, a warm chimney drafts better. This makes a bigger difference on an exterior chimney since those tend to be cooler to start with, and is not as critical on an interior chimney, since it is warmed by being inside the house envelope. However, we have many users that report improved results from insulating even an interior chimney, particularly those in colder climates. However this is probably what that article was talking about.

Second, and more important, though you hope never to test it out, is the insulation improves your fire safety in the event of a chimney fire, and also ensures that any combustible materials (like the walls in your house!) that are near the chimney don't get overheated. In a properly designed and built chimney that is in good condition, this is supposed to be part of the function of the flue tiles, and the code is a bit vague about whether or not the insulation is absolutely required. However, in a case like yours, where the chimney is NOT in good condition, the code is quite emphatic that in order to have a legal installation, you MUST have an insulated liner, no ifs, ands, or buts about it.

Gooserider

 

[Damon]

thanks for all the responses
this forum has been more help then u can imagine thanks again

for my next questions
how do i got the rest of flue tiles out??
someone told me to go up on the roof with a steel pipe and break them up?
is this the only method?
any other special tools i can buy to make the removal easier?
do i start breaking them from the top down or try pushing to the bottom to be broken up?

 

[elkimmeg]

this might be a job worth hiring out to a pro like a mason. there is a chain wipe device designed to do the job perhaps a chimney sweep may be equipped to do the job

there is a bit of weight involve and probably beyond a DIY scope to deal with. if that weight all of a sudden shifts you could damage your chimnry what if you have a thousand lbs resting on the damper and have to work under it breaking it out to remove it?

 

[Gooserider]

I agree, seems like more of a pro job. If I was to DIY, it definitely something I would only tackle from the top - it is not a healthy idea to work on something that you want to make FALL from the bottom! My big concern is that if not properly done, you could damage the masonry behind the tiles which could get even more expensive. Also you will want a pro to look at the brick work to see if there are any other repairs needed before putting in the liner.

Gooserider