Chimney Flue Liners
So I’ve been reading alot about scams with chimney businesses. But what should a flue liner cost (installed) for a 3- story brownstone?
So I’ve been reading alot about scams with chimney businesses. But what should a flue liner cost (installed) for a 3- story brownstone?
I have a question. I have a 3 story Craftsman
style house built in 2005. I have a wood burning insert with gas starter on the main (2nd floor) level. I want to add fireplaces in the basement (1st Floor) and Top Floor. These would be directly above and below the existing fireplace insert. What would be involved in getting these installed. Can it be done without ripping out the existing fireplace. I keep hearing that the existing fireplace has to be pulled out to install the other two flues. Also, what kind of cost is associated with installation assuming I buy the inserts myself.
I have a 2 and 1/2 story colonial. I was told by the chimney cleaner that I needed a liner. The cost would be $1600. After much discussion, I got him down to $1180. I considered doing it myself, but the material would cost around $600 plus I am dealing with something I really am not experienced on. I am calling him tomorrow to schedule the work.
I am looking for someone to open up a couple of fireplaces in the b’stone we recently purchased in Bed-Stuy. I called Aubry Buchanen as recommended above but was told that he has retired and the company he worked for is booked up until March. No answer from A & A.
“Question: The floor of our parlor fireplace is missing? Has it fallen out or was there never one? ”
I had a similiar situation in my 1907 home with one of the fireplaces. The only heating for my home was, originally,
through use of the coal firplaces. When furnaces became popular the easiest way to get flue access to the basement was to remove the floor of a groundfloor fireplace, extending the flue opening down to the basement where the furnace could be connected. The opening of the fireplace was then bricked up to seal it.
Do you mean Aubrey Buchanan? He relined my flues with Terra Cotta right after we bought the place and did a great job.
Yeshwant: Try Andre Buchanan, 718-953-2836. Others on this site have also recommended him.
Our three story brick rowhouse circa 1893 has air vents as well. Beside the boiler there is evidence of a coal chute. We have two chimneys with three chambers each. I think one was for the Kitchen stove the other for the boiler.
Our three story brick rowhouse in Red Hook also looks like the parlor fireplace(s) connects with a heating register on the upper floor. This register/ vent has a louver that you can use to open and shut it. I have read that coal fireplaces were built at the lowest level and then the heat went to the upper floor registers. Also the upper floor mantel is wood, which indicates that it was more likely a decorative mantle for the heat register/vent. Coal fires were started in the fall and continued till spring. Also coal fireplaces are taller and narrower than wood fireplaces. Coal burns hotter than wood, so a smaller fireplace sufficed, I suppose. I think coal was the preferred fuel in NY, London, etc.
Question: The floor of our parlor fireplace is missing? Has it fallen out or was there never one? I just opened it this month. It had been bricked up until now and the bricks were sitting on a grate, but there is no brick floor in the fireplace. Can you recommend any good fireplace and chimney restorers?
Many brownstone fireplaces were indeed simply hot air vents feed by (usually) a coal furnace in the cellar and were never used to burn fuel (be it wood, coal or gas). Because of this, any conversion to wood-burning really should be done by a professional. There are issues to consider not only with rebuilding the flues and fireboxes but also the hearth below. If the floor joists run under the hearthstone (ie. under the fireplace itself), there is the potential for those beams to ignite if the heat from the fire above is great enough. I don’t have the reference any longer, but there was a very thorough article about rowhouse fireplaces written by a Boston chimney mason which describes this scary possibility. It was published in somewhere like Old House Jornal and I found it online so it’s out there somewhere.