You are not going to believe this one

[smokedragon]

And that is why regardless of legality, or what condition a sweep tells me the chimney is in, I will not have a wood burning appliance unless the chimney is lined. My house was built in 62 and we bought it in 2010. We have found both original and renovation work to this same poor standard........

Glad everyone made it out safe, that's what really matters

 

[bholler]

That chimney would not have been safe with a liner. Safer....yes, but still not safe. You need a nominal 4" masonry on all sides of a liner.

I have to second tis thereis no way that that flue could be made useable. Insulated or not there is not enough masonry or clearance there even a class a would not have enough clearance.

And that is why regardless of legality, or what condition a sweep tells me the chimney is in, I will not have a wood burning appliance unless the chimney is lined. My house was built in 62 and we bought it in 2010. We have found both original and renovation work to this same poor standard........

Glad everyone made it out safe, that's what really matters

There is no reason that a properly inspected clay lined chimney cant be safe. We work on many that are perfectly fine and I used one for years before it degraded t the point I had to break out the clay and line it.

 

[fire_man]

I've got a closet wall covering an unused chimney that I am about to use for my new woodstove.
Guess where I am going to blast a peep hole through this weekend to see what is behind there!

 

[bag of hammers]

(two very brave firefighters died in Boston, Ma. yesterday... a brick row house in a very toney part of the city. I can't even feature running toward a fire; firemen are some of the bravest people on earth!)

There are many (some volunteer) firefighters on this site. I know a few around here (some related). They're all the same - i.e. they will walk / run / crawl into a sh$t storm without blinking, to save a stranger's kid / pet / house. I wouldn't have the stones. Kudos to these folks.

 

[stoveguy2esw]

Motor (anyone), why would the chimney have still been unsafe with a metal liner?

(two very brave firefighters died in Boston, Ma. yesterday... a brick row house in a very toney part of the city. I can't even feature running toward a fire; firemen are some of the bravest people on earth!)

that the 9 alarmer over by the inner harbor or somthing? seems i heard a blurb on the radio news about that they said it was a "brownstone" or somthing. didnt know about the firefighters, brave souls all of them, shame to lose a single one of them.

 

[BrotherBart]

It was in the Back Bay. I have a lot of friends that live in brownstones there and have spent a lot of time with them. It was away from their homes but I have a couple of calls in anyway.

 

[smokedragon]

There is no reason that a properly inspected clay lined chimney cant be safe.

My question is how would you catch something like that upon "inspection"

Unless my sweep runs a camera down the clay flue to make sure the masonry is intact, it is not "inspected". Even then, if there were mortar between the joints of the clay tiles, this might have gone unnoticed upon inspection.

I do agree with you, that even a liner wouldn't be safe (because there just isn't enough R value there), but it is a heck of a lot better than fire going between clay tiles.

I know plenty who run theirs with stove pipe shoved up to the first clay tile, but I just won't do it.

If I only ran my stove when I was awake, I would feel differently.....

 

[smokedragon]

I've got a closet wall covering an unused chimney that I am about to use for my new woodstove.
Guess where I am going to blast a peep hole through this weekend to see what is behind there!

After reading this story, I agree.

We will remodel the kitchen in the next year or two (the chimney is hidden behind wall board in the kitchen, and creates the nook for our eat in area) and when we pull out the wall board, I will go over the masonry with a fine tooth comb.

Scary.

 

[bholler]

Well between using a camera and doing a complete inspection it is very possible to get a good evaluation of the safety of a chimney. Now there will be times when clearances cannot be confirmed and in that case the inspection would state that and say if may not be safe to use. And no I would never recommend a direct connect like the one you referred to I am talking about a properly sized and installed clay liner.

 

[bholler]

All that being said I would always prefer to see and insulated ss liner over a clay liner chimney. But clay can be safe if done properly

 

[fire_man]

After reading this story, I agree.

We will remodel the kitchen in the next year or two (the chimney is hidden behind wall board in the kitchen, and creates the nook for our eat in area) and when we pull out the wall board, I will go over the masonry with a fine tooth comb.

Scary.

Hopefully when you remove the wallboard you won't be peeling it off the clay liner!

 

[Simonkenton]

Good God, what a horrid installation. A miracle the house didn't burn down 15 years ago.

 

[elmoleaf]

. Likely a prior remodel removed the chimney portion bumping into bedroom area to gain floor space? Good idea to always gut space when remodeling to uncover stuff like this or buried abandoned stove flue openings. It always makes sense to question the weird stuff too...like why a chimney, or pipe or wire etc that appears one floor disappears or changes on another floor.

 

[jotul8e2]

I think this house is from the 50's but will double check. So much for building them right in the good old days, eh?

No, you do not generally want to go the the 50's for examples of quality construction. However, the single most poorly built house I have ever seen was built around 1915. Yeah - the good ol' days.

 

[bag of hammers]

My house was built in the 50's, apparently before levels and squares were invented.....

 

[firebroad]

My house was built in the 50's, apparently before levels and squares were invented.....

My current home was built in 1957. I consider it a "new" house; it is certainly the newest one I have ever lived in.

 

[smokedragon]

Just remember........the good ol' days, weren't.

 

[smokedragon]

Hopefully when you remove the wallboard you won't be peeling it off the clay liner!

Our calendar hangs on that wall board, and I am tempted to drill a peep hole behind the calendar.......

 

[fire_man]

I drilled a pilot hole in my unfinished attic through the exposed OSB sheathing - right where the external masonry chimney runs. The good news is my drill hit solid brick. The bad news is it was only about 1/2" from the outer surface of the sheathing. So I guess I don't meet the minimum 1" clearance to combustibles .

I wonder how many chimneys really are built to code?

 

[begreen]

I wonder how many chimneys really are built to code?

Good question. I suspect the answer is not as many as we would hope for.

PS: I found out that the house was built in the 60's. The chimney is has 2 flues in it. One for the furnace and one for the fireplace that the stove was connected to. The exposed flue was for the fireplace!!

 

[bholler]

Honestly I have found very few chimney that actually met code when it came to the clearance between the outer masonry and combustibles. That is the reason I always say that I feel every liner should be insulated unless you can confirm those clearances which is very uncommon.

 

[fire_man]

The problem with the code is it makes no allowance for distance from the clay liner to the outer masonry, or mortar mass between the liner and the masonry.

You could have a 6 foot wide chimney with one clay liner down the middle, like mine, but if the sides of the masonry touch the house (like mine) it's not code. That just does not make sense to me.

 

[bholler]

I agree with you completely fireman but that is the code and we cant change that. Now I might let something slide in a case like that where there is allot of masonry in-between that I would not otherwise do. But if you are going absolutely by the book it doesn't matter

 

[fire_man]

I'm a "by the book" kind of person, too - bholler. But sometimes I really don't understand codes.

But I know you are right, code is code.

 

[bholler]

most of the time I agree with them but yeah some don't make much sense.