Forum Archive

It’s a great relief to have this forum and know that so many have gone through exactly the same issues I have in my renovation. There aren’t many brownstones left in Newark, NJ so i use this site as a great resource for problems that are beyond the comprehension of most of the contactors here in NJ. That said, it is my turn to contribute.

It has been a source of annoyance for many years that my 7 fireplaces don’t work but are always the first thing everyone notices when they come in. I had flues for the furnace and kitchen relined with stainless steel(and a ton of coal dust removed) at the cost of about $1800 each. This included repointing the two chimeys. I was ok with this since I use these every day and I was told that the stainless steel liners would keep the chimneys intact by stopping the interior walls from collapsing since the mortor is 150 years old. Who knows if this is true; but I bought it.

I spent a couple nights in front of a fire in VT and I decided enough is enough – it’s time to tackle the parlor fireplace. My fireplaces are about 15 inches deep and were origionally coal. My “summer cover” remains in the Dining Room but is long gone in the parlor. There was a three foot blockage so the Chimney guys broke through to the flue on the 2nd floor and cleared the blockage. The flue turns and gets pretty tight in the turn so the flue was chipped open and a 7″ stainless steel liner was installed. Cost for clearing the blockage, patching the hole, installing the liner and damper – $2200. The “smoke box” was also coated with some kind of synthetic mortor to the opening of the new liner.

I had to wait a day and started conservatively with a duraflame log. The whole house smelled and lightly filled with smoke. I called the chimney guys. “Oh, you need to heat the flue first – it happens all the time.” Ok, not so bad. This time i light a duroflame starter log (about 4″ long) then put the duraflame in…not too bad. A couple hours later, the duraflame starts to dwindle and i notice a mild gasy smell and some whisps of smoke. I decide that the flue must have cooled and the draft is no longer working so I assume i need to put a piece of wood on the fire to get the heat up and get the draft going again. Again, the house fills lightly with smoke so i carry the flaming duraflame log and wood through the kitchen and put it in the back yard. I call the chimney guys again. “Well, we were afraid this would happen.” The combination of the turn and the shallow depth of the fireplace mean that I need an Exhausto draft inducer – another $2200 (they came down to $1800 – but no less and its a “special deal only for you”).

After trolling the browstoner archives I am not sure this will work either since it looks like many people have had the mantel taken off and the firebox redone for about $10K. As I mentioned at the beginning, my brownstone is in Newark, not Park Slope so I don’t think i will have the same return on investment. I found a nice Hargrove coal basket on ebay for $400 and decided that this will just have to be good enough.

If I knew from the beginning that I was going to fold and get a gas insert i believe I would have gotten a vent-free insert (i realize these are illegal in NYC) and saved myself a couple thousand dollars. -Live and learn.