info on DIY liners

[Chip Wood]

i imagine i'm looking for info that's been posted here or there a dozen times but i'm reaching information-overload on searches and parsing related posts. apologies if this is repetitious but i'm going to post my own specific questions.

i have an exterior stone/masonry chimney roughly 18' high with a fairly large fireplace. i'm looking at cat inserts (prolly BK or Regency) and retailers/installers around here seem to only offer single-wall liners, insistent that insulation and block-off plates aren't necessary. i also have a 5' long concrete slab as my chimney cap right now with no way to get a crane anywhere near it, so i'm going to have to erect a scaffold and get up there myself to remove that before a new liner goes in. installers i've spoken to don't want to deal with that, and i don't blame them. hence the DIY....

i'm ready to pull the trigger on a pre-insulated liner from Rockford Chimney Supply with stainless inner and aluminum outer. is there anything i should know about this? is aluminum an appropriate material in this application? is Rockford a reputable supplier? is there another product i should look at?

there doesn't seem to be much creosote build up but i know it's advisable to clean the flue before installing a liner. while i can't find a brush that is an exact size match (ID of terra cotta flue is 11"x16"), would a standard wire brush generally do the job? i know there is some deterioration in the seams around the terra cotta, but . . . that's why i'm installing a liner - so i don't have to have that repaired. does this sound wrong-headed?

thanks for the help!

 

[Doc C]

http://www.chimneylinerdepot.com/

Rockford is a supplier on here and so is chimney liner depot. I don't have experience with either one but I would suggest talking to both companies.

Also look into soot eater. That's what I use to clean my chimney. Not sure if it goes out to the 16" you need but worth a look.

Also if you go the soot eater route once you are done with the larger size chimney you can cut the strings on the soot eater shorter to be able to use it on the liner.

Also if it's safe I would burn a good hot fire, use a creosote remover product or log and then clean it right after it cools.

Might not be needed if you don't have much creosote but definately want to try to prevent the creosote smell in the house in the summer from creosote being stuck in the masonry chimney.

 

[Chip Wood]

i don't really feel it would be safe to light a fire in there now, so i don't think i'll be using one of those types of creosote removers. but i will pick up a Soot Remover. i'd seen it at Home Depot but didn't know if it was any good. i do like the idea of being able to repurpose the tool for the new liner.

i'll check out the other liner supplier as well. thanks Doc.

 

[Bill C]

I have a friend who ordered a liner from Rockford. He loves it, has great draft and is easy to install. You case may require a scaffold or an "electric lift". Those can be rented very reasonable....much better than scaffolding.
I bought a soot eater this year from Walmart! I can't tell you enough good things about it Made cleaning my 20' chimney very easy. Now I clean from the bottom up now . Mine came with 6-3 foot rods. You can buy additional rods a Home Depot to reach whatever height you need. Hope this helps.

 

[bholler]

I have a friend who ordered a liner from Rockford. He loves it, has great draft and is easy to install. You case may require a scaffold or an "electric lift". Those can be rented very reasonable....much better than scaffolding.
I bought a soot eater this year from Walmart! I can't tell you enough good things about it Made cleaning my 20' chimney very easy. Now I clean from the bottom up now . Mine came with 6-3 foot rods. You can buy additional rods a Home Depot to reach whatever height you need. Hope this helps.

It may be easy it may not be that depends on lots of things. There are some we are done with in a couple hours and others that take a couple days.

 

[Chip Wood]

my chimney is as inaccessible to a scissor lift as it is to a crane. the house backs up to a hill. but i've already invested in (used) scaffolding, for a couple of jobs. the house is a bit of a fixer-upper. still not sure how i'm going to get the concrete slab down from the scaffolding, but it'll come to me.

 

[bholler]

my chimney is as inaccessible to a scissor lift as it is to a crane. the house backs up to a hill. but i've already invested in (used) scaffolding, for a couple of jobs. the house is a bit of a fixer-upper. still not sure how i'm going to get the concrete slab down from the scaffolding, but it'll come to me.

Cut it up into peices

 

[Chip Wood]

that's a good idea. i'm assuming there's rebar inside it. do concrete saws cut through steel?

 

[bholler]

that's a good idea. i'm assuming there's rebar inside it. do concrete saws cut through steel?

Yes they do they really wouldnt be much good if they didnt. We have cut up many slabs to get them down.

 

[Joyboy]

Can you cut a hole in the slab and run the liner through it with the liner cap then sitting on the slab?The problem with my chimney was getting something to cover the top and still support the liner.

 

[Chip Wood]

that's an interesting idea, at least in terms of a temporary solution. another aspect i was puzzling over was the fact that the chimney includes 2 flues all of 3 inches apart. that would suggest a multi-flue cap, but the entire chimney (as well as other parts of the masonry exterior of the house) needs repointing, including the crown of the chimney where a multi-flue cap would be affixed. that's not going to happen now, given the late-season temperatures, so i'd prefer not to have to commit to the expense and installation of a new cap only to have to pull it off and reinstall after the masonry work.

running the flue liner up through the present cement cap would mean 2 top plates, one on the top of the chimney to keep the heat in and another on top of the present cap to support the additional 12" of liner and hold a smaller metal cap. it would be kinda ghetto but would keep rain off the chimney til i was able to repoint and install a more permanent solution.