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We have a 45 year old ranch that when inspected showed signs of a possible chimney fire and loose mortar between the clay tiles. We installed a wood burning insert two year ago and have not regretted it once. The only danger your situation has is structural, will the firebox support a decent insert. They weigh at least 200 lbs for a decent one. The next company that comes in may be able to tell you if you can support it. Regarding cost: many of the inserts we looked at started at approx. 3000 with installation including the tube costing another 1000. Good luck
From the inspection report, the liner is ok but the brick needs to be repointed/mortared. Century old brickwork often has this problem. I took care of the clearance to combustibles by re-flooring the whole room with tile.
That's likely correct, but the house is nearly 90 years old and has survived numerous earthquakes (California coast here). So, I feel that it would've fallen over by now or done some structural damage.
Sometimes the structural damage is a fire when the chimney has problems that let the hot gasses get to the frame of the house
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The house is on a foundation (crawl space) but no basement. The ground will soak up every bit of rain, no standing water, so I don't suspect that's going to be an issue.
Looking at the report it appears the flue liner is okay but the rest of the fireplace has issues. I suspect that moisture (rain) has come down the chimney and the mortar was one of the older types that wasn't very moisture resistant. That is a problem here on older structures on the east coast
When we put a fireplace insert into our fireplace years ago (about 20) we were advised to do a direct connection from the insert to the flue. That was almost impossible because we had a 'heatalotor' (metal tubes that run around the firebox and thru the smokebox that use convection to circulate warm air into the room) We should have cut them out so we could run a flue pipe from the insert/stove to the flue. A neighbor had actually cut the heatalator out. Our Chimney sweep who had helped him said he would never try that again. So we slid the insert in and sealed it at the front of the fireplace. I do not think that would meet current standards (we removed it before we sold the house a dozen years ago)
Looking at the report it appears the flue liner is okay but the rest of the fireplace has issues. I suspect that moisture (rain) has come down the chimney and the mortar was one of the older types.
We have a 45 year old ranch that when inspected showed signs of a possible chimney fire and loose mortar between the clay tiles. We installed a wood burning insert two year ago and have not regretted it once. The only danger your situation has is structural, will the firebox support a decent insert. They weigh at least 200 lbs for a decent one. The next company that comes in may be able to tell you if you can support it. Regarding cost: many of the inserts we looked at started at approx. 3000 with installation including the tube costing another 1000. Good luck
I had the same experience as exphysics teacher had. I will add this. You are losing heat up that chimney because of the damper's condition. How big is the room that the insert will be in because older houses don't have an open architecture? Have the chimney repointed unless it's really falling apart which would indicate a rebuild. They will put a liner in the chimney and you will need a chimney cap. Use only newspaper to start fires. The wax fire starter sticks clog the chimney cap. My house was built in the seventies and the insert only heats the living room. Buy only seasoned wood.
I had the same experience as exphysics teacher had. I will add this. You are losing heat up that chimney because of the damper's condition. How big is the room that the insert will be in because older houses don't have an open architecture? Have the chimney repointed unless it's really falling apart which would indicate a rebuild. They will put a liner in the chimney and you will need a chimney cap. Use only newspaper to start fires. The wax fire starter sticks clog the chimney cap. My house was built in the seventies and the insert only heats the living room. Buy only seasoned wood.
The whole house is 1300 square feet, but one room is closed off (12' x 10' or so), and really we could close off another 1/3rd of the house by installing a door at the kitchen. We don't need to heat that up at night. So really, not a whole lot of living space...pretty open.
I've installed a number of wood stoves (personally), the last one was in a house built in the 70's. Some of the exterior brick was loose, so I repaired that and actually raised the chimney height 24" and built up a new concrete 'cap' around the top, using sealant all around. That's a big issue with old chimney's- the concrete cap on the very top is cracked or missing in parts, and then rain seeps into the brick mortar and begins to freeze/thaw and crack the mortar joints. Usually creates a 'rot from the top down' situation.
My clay liners inside were in good shape, so no problem there. If you don't have a clay liner, or if it is horribly cracked you really should not install a wood burning appliance. The problem with a wood stove is that you will get creosote build up, even with a modern EPA certified CAT equipped wood stove. Without that fired clay liner that creosote will build on the brick and really cling to those nooks and cranny's, build up, and if you have a chimney fire you are really in danger of having a breach (or brick simply cracking off) and now the fire is exposed to the house. Not a good deal..
No liner- no wood stove. I wouldn't even start a fireplace fire in it.
If you have no liner or if it is really damaged- the easiest solution is to run a quality stainless steel liner pipe sized for your appliance all the way down with the appropriate adaptor in your hearth. Now you can simply plug it in a fire it up. Cleaning is a lot easier- the creosote stays inside the pipe, does not fall onto the smoke shelf, and they have a clean-out on the bottom of the 'T' where the appliance hooks into into it. That will cost you some $$, but it is a safe route to go. However if the chimney itself is in poor shape- you can consider tearing that out and simply installing the appropriate stainless steel chimney in it's place.
If you have a serviceable liner then you can buy an adapter made of flexible stainless steel that can be snaked up and around the smoke shelf and into the fireplace about 4-5 feet until it goes into the lined area. You HAVE to remove the steel damper plate for this install. The flex-insert comes with a stainless steel block off plate that you can trim to fit, and also line the inside of the plate with rock wool. I've installed 3 of those in my life. Not tough to do, but you have to remember that after each chimney cleaning YOU HAVE TO REMOVE THE ENTIRE LINER AND CLEAN THE SCRAPED OFF CREOSOTE THAT WILL FALL ONTO THE SMOKE SHELF.
How do I know this? Because I cleaned my chimney twice a year, and I used a Dutchwest CAT equipped wood stove and I thought "Well it really is a clean burner, so I should have minimal creosote." Wrong answer. I had a chimney fire that started from the accumulated creosote that fell onto the smoke shelf after cleaning. I went two years without cleaning off the smoke shelf. Thank-goodness it was a new chimney so the fire simply burned out all the crud on the liner, but it was still a very scary experience.
Lesson learned.
Sorry this is long winded, but It's worth retelling. You need to have a) a serviceable chimney for a wood stove and b) be prepared to keep it really clean.
Last edited by Threerun; 11-23-2015 at 09:33 PM..
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