Ummm, What's That?
More progress on the second floor today. Specifically, we took out walls in both the bedroom closets and one wall in the master bedroom. That let us see the dead spaces hidden behind the walls where the roofline meets the floor.
This was great...except for what we saw when we found the chimney behind one of the walls...
The chimney is a mess! The brick work is original and it has deterioriated quite a bit.
This photo shows the bricks closer up.
So, this looks pretty bad. But how serious is it? From our inspection, we know that there isn't a chimney liner inside, so it seems likely that we could have air vented from the boiler leaking in to the second floor. However, we need to research the situation. Is this something we can just have tuckpointed, or is it more complex than that? At this point we don't know.
Anybody have experience with this?
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Comments
You can buy a stainless steel chimney liner to insert from the top. I bought one on ebay for about $700 with shipping. It is likely that carbon monoxide is causing your bricks and mortar to deteriorate. You need to attach a flashlight to a rope and lower it down the chimney in order to see the extent of the damage. If you lower an ignited wet piece of newspaper and cover the opening you will soon find out if there are holes in the chimney. You also need to see if you have two flues or just one. Over the next couple of years I will be lining our 4 chimneys so that we can burn wood in our 7 fire places. I will install the first one sometime around August so I can't tell you how hard or easy it is just yet. Tuck pointing is easy though and you can do that yourself. The trick there is mixing the mortar so that it is quite viscous and clay like. Sometime in the next day or so I will compile a list of books for you to look out for that will give you all sorts of ideas about dealing with this kind of stuff!
Posted by: Gary Leitzell | May 10, 2004 8:32 AM
I agree, a chimney liner is a must. Since this is interior brick & is hidden, I would suggest wire brushing it & laying 1/2 to 3/4 inch layer of mortar mix over the entire surface. You may have to use a wire mesh to help the mortar stick. Also a chimney cap of some sort to keep rain & birds out.... POPS"30"
Posted by: POPS"30" | May 10, 2004 12:02 PM
Friends with a similar problem lined the chimney (2 flues) for use with wood stoves and, since it will remain exposed now that they've gutted, repointed it. Theirs is giant - from the basement to a full third floor and beyond - so they haven't redone all of it yet. I'll check to see if they have any advice.
Posted by: Kristen | May 10, 2004 12:03 PM
I had a similar situation fixed on one of the chimneys in my house last year. I had a crew out to tuckpoint the exterior of the chimney, and on the part that's exposed inside the attic (which looked worse than yours) they simply parged it over with a layer of mortar.
You do need a liner for the boiler flue, though. The moisture and acids in the combustion fumes coming up the chimney is what eats away the mortar.
I really enjoy your website, by the way...I frequent the Fine Homebuilding site and noticed one of your posts a while back. I've been following your progress ever since.
Posted by: Stuart | May 10, 2004 7:15 PM
Stuart is right. You need a stainless steel liner. The gases cool and condensate inside the chimney before they reach the top. Moisture and acids form the deterioration by forcing salts throught the inside surface of the(cheap Chicago)brick.
This is partly because modern boilers/furnaces are more efficient and don't burn as hot as ones when the house was built. Also now you burn gas, but they burned coal or oil.
A new liner, by decreasing the diameter of the flue will cause the gases to travel up and be expelled more quickly. Don't forget to put a cap on it.
This is one job that requires professionals, as the flue should be sized properly for the boiler. IT should NOT cost you a bundle, at all.
If the brick is to remain closed inside the walls, you really shouldn't need to do anything with it (if you install a new liner), unless it actually has holes in it, or is structurally unsound.
Posted by: Marty | May 11, 2004 2:43 PM