Hi All,
I own an early 1900's three story home in New England with a fireplace on the first floor. The chimney is entirely on the interior of the house and protrudes out the third story roof five feet or so - for a total of about 35" stack (or thereabouts). I am told the flue is 9X13. There is a slight bend towards the bottom of the chimney above the fireplace which is where I think the smoke chamber is. Otherwise, it's a pretty straight run through the center of the house, up through the walk-up attic and out the roof.
The fireplace in the living room is 28"H X 35"W X 20"D. The surround is mostly wooden columns with a mirror above the mantel. The interior of the chimney itself is brick with some cracking showing on a video scan that was done.
The fireplace has not been used in over a year since, when we bought the house, we were told that the chimney needed a liner in order to be run safely. We contacted several nearby companies and got conflicting advice from most of them when we thought dropping a liner in would be simple (how wrong we were!).
The first company, a full service company that sells stoves, said they would "absolutely not" install a liner for wood burning in the chimney and recommended a new gas insert. While the idea of gas is appealing for convenience, most of the inserts that are aesthetically pleasing to us (that fit the old house feel/not super modern look) seem to require 36" of clearance from the hearth to the mantel and we have only 35". This company also sells a lot of inserts and stoves so I am weary of their recommendation as being self serving.
The second company, a mason who I trust and has good references, said he could easily fit a 7 X 11 heavy stainless liner for the fireplace and would pour Thermix to fill the void between brick and the liner. That was the extent of his proposal.
I have read about some folks not recommending Thermix and instead suggesting pre-wrapping insulation around the liner. He did not note that in his
With that background, here are my questions:
1. Does the mason's proposal sound reasonable given the size and age of the chimney? Would you install a liner in this interior fireplace?
2. Is there anything else that I should ask the mason to include in his proposal (for example, the name brand of the liner, or anything else)?
3. If a liner truly cannot be installed, do you know if there are any resources to find gas inserts that have at most 35" hearth to mantel clearance?
If you all have any other advice or if I can give more details, do let me know!
Thank you!
I own an early 1900's three story home in New England with a fireplace on the first floor. The chimney is entirely on the interior of the house and protrudes out the third story roof five feet or so - for a total of about 35" stack (or thereabouts). I am told the flue is 9X13. There is a slight bend towards the bottom of the chimney above the fireplace which is where I think the smoke chamber is. Otherwise, it's a pretty straight run through the center of the house, up through the walk-up attic and out the roof.
The fireplace in the living room is 28"H X 35"W X 20"D. The surround is mostly wooden columns with a mirror above the mantel. The interior of the chimney itself is brick with some cracking showing on a video scan that was done.
The fireplace has not been used in over a year since, when we bought the house, we were told that the chimney needed a liner in order to be run safely. We contacted several nearby companies and got conflicting advice from most of them when we thought dropping a liner in would be simple (how wrong we were!).
The first company, a full service company that sells stoves, said they would "absolutely not" install a liner for wood burning in the chimney and recommended a new gas insert. While the idea of gas is appealing for convenience, most of the inserts that are aesthetically pleasing to us (that fit the old house feel/not super modern look) seem to require 36" of clearance from the hearth to the mantel and we have only 35". This company also sells a lot of inserts and stoves so I am weary of their recommendation as being self serving.
The second company, a mason who I trust and has good references, said he could easily fit a 7 X 11 heavy stainless liner for the fireplace and would pour Thermix to fill the void between brick and the liner. That was the extent of his proposal.
I have read about some folks not recommending Thermix and instead suggesting pre-wrapping insulation around the liner. He did not note that in his
With that background, here are my questions:
1. Does the mason's proposal sound reasonable given the size and age of the chimney? Would you install a liner in this interior fireplace?
2. Is there anything else that I should ask the mason to include in his proposal (for example, the name brand of the liner, or anything else)?
3. If a liner truly cannot be installed, do you know if there are any resources to find gas inserts that have at most 35" hearth to mantel clearance?
If you all have any other advice or if I can give more details, do let me know!
Thank you!
