Raise My Chimney?
We have a two-story limestone house. A five-story building is going up next door. Our chimneys are a few feet from the developer’s new wall. NYC construction code (27-860) says that the developers must raise our chimney to be above the level of their new wall at all times (including during construction). They have not…
We have a two-story limestone house. A five-story building is going up next door. Our chimneys are a few feet from the developer’s new wall. NYC construction code (27-860) says that the developers must raise our chimney to be above the level of their new wall at all times (including during construction). They have not done so.
The still switch on our furnace (hot water heat) went out last week, and again yesterday, because of carbon monoxide build-up. The National Grid tech believes the developer’s new wall is to blame. The DOB sent out an inspector who spoke to the developer’s construction manager and determined that because the wall near our chimneys is not yet completed, the air flow is enough not to cause problems. The wall is bricked so I’m not sure what they mean by not completed. No complaint was filed, no violation found. The DOB suggests we have our furnace looked at (again).
The developer says they’ll inspect our chimneys and decide what they feel needs to be done in a few months, unless we want an inspection sooner. We want it sooner and have told them that repeatedly. As of this afternoon, they say they’ll get back to us.
Does anyone have experience with this issue, and any advice? Does anyone have any idea what alterations to our chimney may be necessary?
Spill Switch – as in Carbon monoxide exhaust spilling out of your pre-war chimney….
SPILL switch
We met with the construction folks and they are going to come up with a plan for a metal extension to our chimney that turns away from our building so that it’s 15 feet from the new building’s wall, then up. They say they think they’ll put a fan in the extension to pull fumes out, and the fan would somehow be connected to our furnace so that our furnace will not turn on without the fan. I think that is what they said (at first they were sort’ve whispering to one another about the plan, and I had to ask them to please share. Since it’s my chimney and my furnace we were talking about). They will have a plan for us early next week. We had no heat when it was windy, though early this morning the winds died and we currently have heat.
crownheights2007 – by law the developer is responsible for extending your chimney. Actually, they were supposed to keep your chimney three feet higher than their wall (assuming your chimneys are 10 feet or less from their wall) at all times during construction. I have no idea if a better chimney cover would help – I tend to think not because you still need the exhaust gases to escape. One DOB guy I spoke to said that the exhaust gases are heavier than air, and the National Grid tech told me that whenever we have wind the gases just can’t get out. No one has described the wind as pushing down into the chimney… Although we did find the clean-out (there was not rubble or mortar in it) and we could feel the draft blowing in. I will send you an email.
Thank you everyone for your advice and good ideas and everything. By the way – is the switch that keeps tripping a STILL switch, a SPILL switch, or a KILL switch? I’ve heard it all three ways!
Very interesting. We have EXACTLY the same problem – new building recently completed right next to ours, two floors higher and suddenly we have a problem with the heating. It would be helpful to stay in touch on this if you wish as we should also contact the developer. Email me at crownheights2007ATgmail.com. Im wondering in the interim, would a better chimney cover help to keep the downdraft out ? thanks
Thank you all so much!
We have a service contract with National Grid. When the tech came out he said he thought the problem was the new building’s wall so close to ours. I wasn’t there (I only spoke to the tech on the phone) so I don’t know if he checked other possible issues.
The DOB says that the wall is (somehow) not finished (it looks finished) so there is some airflow and it’s not an emergency situation. I don’t know how to make life difficult for the developer (which I’d only do in order to get them to be responsive and reasonably cooperative) if the DOB just shrugs… We’ve called 311 and maybe going that route might at least result in a complaint being issued, if not a violation.
I hadn’t even thought that they might have accidentally dropped mortar or something into the chimney! I mentioned it to the developer and they have (finally!) agreed to come tomorrow to “inspect the boiler”. We’re going to ask what the plan is for the chimney, too.
I don’t know if we have a clean out at the base. I’ll try to find out…
We are holding off on getting a lawyer involved. The developer did compensate us when their work caused water to come in and ruin our finished basement. So we feel that they can be reasonable when or if they want to… I think?
Thank you all, again. If the developer insists that their work is not causing a problem we’ll have National Grid come out and check for condensation or other sensor problems. But we’ll still demand that they fix our chimney.
Then the question will be, do we just get a metal flu to direct our chimney further from the wall, or can we get them to build it so that it looks nice?
In any case, I really appreciate all of the good suggestions and ideas. Did I mention, THANK YOU? I’ll try to post later what the outcome is.
I’ve had exactly the same happen to a client a couple of years ago. The developer raised their chimney and offset it away from the new building. Realize that you are in a position to potentially make life difficult for the developer. The developer knows that and is probably hoping you don’t.
Follow the advice above and if necessary, keep filing complaints with the DOB. Each complaint goes on the record and must be investigated by the DOB.
you’re getting good advice here…the developer is 100% responsible for raising your chimney, and any other’s that his construction is making non-compliant.
I agree that you should have your lawyer send them a letter to make it official.
Could be an issue of something causing the sensor to misread either the pressure in the chimney or that the chimney could be clogged. Has it been cleaned? I had very minor condensation drip into the sensor tube that monitors whether there’s negative pressure/draft in the chimney. A few drops was enough to make the sensor believe that their was blockage (ie no negative pressure) and it shut down both the furnace and hot water tank. Just an idea…
The developer is responsible for extending your chimney. Lawsuit will cost more than the work.
I bet they dumped mortar down as DIBS suggests. Do you have a clean out at the base? If not you might have to remove boiler duct and see what falls out.
Contractor won’t do the work on your place without being forced. Keep up the pressure.