Hi, everyone! 1929 house with a clay tile lined interior chimney. First home and first fireplace! Looking for some advice on the state of my smoke chamber. We moved in this past April and in October had a chimney company come out to rebuild the crown, install a new flue pipe, and install a new cap. They also installed a stainless steel liner up my boiler flue.
They said a sweep wasn’t really needed as the clay liner “looked great” and didn’t have much creosote buildup or at least any of concern. Soot staining but nothing major. They just cleaned the firebox. Since they came, we’ve been burning 1-2 fires a week and I’m pretty obsessed with it, not gonna lie. The chimney performs exceptionally well in my opinion. Great draft. We’ve been burning wood under 15% and it barely smokes, exits the chimney as a nice heat wave.
One thing I’ve noticed, though, is the smoke chamber is missing a bit of mortar around a number of bricks, particularly at the rear and left walls. There’s shiny (albeit thin) creosote buildup on the mortar. The white soot in the photos I’m assuming is just ash? Comes off extremely easy with wind/ash brush. Wondering if you think it’s worth it to have this repaired next season? How the heck would one even parge over this, since it’s an interior chimney? I think my biggest concern is a large gap right where the liner starts. Posting the photos in an Imgur link. Have a look. The wall at the rear of the chimney is ice cold to the touch when burning so doesn’t seem there’s any heat escaping through gaps.
I’ve stuck my head up here more times than my wife would like, but I find this all incredibly interesting and plan on utilizing the fireplace to its fullest extent, and want to keep it safe and operating well. Before I close the damper I usually stick a flashlight up just to see if anything’s changed, and it’s been pretty consistent. I’m sure I’ll stop doing that… soon.
Thanks!
They said a sweep wasn’t really needed as the clay liner “looked great” and didn’t have much creosote buildup or at least any of concern. Soot staining but nothing major. They just cleaned the firebox. Since they came, we’ve been burning 1-2 fires a week and I’m pretty obsessed with it, not gonna lie. The chimney performs exceptionally well in my opinion. Great draft. We’ve been burning wood under 15% and it barely smokes, exits the chimney as a nice heat wave.
One thing I’ve noticed, though, is the smoke chamber is missing a bit of mortar around a number of bricks, particularly at the rear and left walls. There’s shiny (albeit thin) creosote buildup on the mortar. The white soot in the photos I’m assuming is just ash? Comes off extremely easy with wind/ash brush. Wondering if you think it’s worth it to have this repaired next season? How the heck would one even parge over this, since it’s an interior chimney? I think my biggest concern is a large gap right where the liner starts. Posting the photos in an Imgur link. Have a look. The wall at the rear of the chimney is ice cold to the touch when burning so doesn’t seem there’s any heat escaping through gaps.
I’ve stuck my head up here more times than my wife would like, but I find this all incredibly interesting and plan on utilizing the fireplace to its fullest extent, and want to keep it safe and operating well. Before I close the damper I usually stick a flashlight up just to see if anything’s changed, and it’s been pretty consistent. I’m sure I’ll stop doing that… soon.
Thanks!
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