It's Happened!!! and Only Two Seasons in...

My brother an I pulled the liner today. It's pin holed the full 16'. I'm going to assume that is why I had poor draft last season.

We went to put the new tile is and turns out I bought the wrong size. I bought 6x6 flue tile and chimney block. I need 8x12 flue tile and block. But we prepped the top of the chimney for the correct size. Unfortunately my plan was to go an additional 4' but that is not going to happen. I've got no real way to get 4'. The highest I'll be able to go is 2'. Making the chimney 18'.

We also installed the throat plate. Originally I was going to use high temp silicone to install it but opted to use the furnace cement. I'll probably have to put a second coat to seal any holes that appear from air pockets. Overall, I think it came out nice.

Looks great! I'd bet that took some serious time and effort.

It took about 45 minutes to get the plate cemented in and bolted in place. Filling the gaps with the furnace cement was the hardest. I was using a 4" spackle knife and the back corners and around the bolts on the side of the plate it didn't fit. I had to use my hand. The thing that sucked the most was finding out that the flue tile and block I got were too small. I made short work out of the cement around the top tile in the chimney with a 4 1/2" angle grinder with a diamond blade in it. Tomorrow I'll be returning the tile and block I got and buying the right size.

Why can't you go up another 4'?

After 2' it's above my head. I don't have an extension ladder to go that high.

I'm On Fire wrote:Unfortunately my plan was to go an additional 4' but that is not going to happen. I've got no real way to get 4'. The highest I'll be able to go is 2'. Making the chimney 18'.

The sky's the limit.
clean the top of the last flu liner a little better ,so the new linner will sit level,then lay 2 chimney block on top of the chimney cap,butter up the top of the old flu liner with mortar and slide the new one on top,then continue till you get to 4' of flu liner.Keep the last chimney block low enough to have room for a (3" Pre-cast chimney cap and 4" of flu liner above the pre-cast cap),you will need to cut the last chimney block with your diamond blade from the outside then the inside of the block.
PM me if you need any more info. i'll give you my phone #

I'm On Fire wrote:After 2' it's above my head. I don't have an extension ladder to go that high.

Understood, but as long as you are going through the effort to raise the chimney...maybe see if you can borrow a ladder from someone? Rent scaffolding, etc? There is no sense in doing this twice.

rent one of those powered lifts...
Boom over to the chimney and go as high as you want...
I hate ladders...

CapeCoaler wrote:rent one of those powered lifts...
Boom over to the chimney and go as high as you want...
I hate ladders...

Maybe I can have my office rent one for me. I too hate ladders. They are very squirrely.

Well my brother and I added onto the chimney. We put the 2' extension onto it. I've not finished off the top yet as I'm looking into some scaffolding to go up the additional 2'. It looks Pretty goofy.

When your done with the extension you might be able to lay stone up there to match or maybe continue the taper of the chimney with block/brick and stucco the whole chimney.

I'm On Fire wrote:It looks Pretty goofy.

It will look just fine from within the house when your stove is drafting properly.

carlherrnstein wrote:When your done with the extension you might be able to lay stone up there to match or maybe continue the taper of the chimney with block/brick and stucco the whole chimney.

The lake just re-did all the bridges and I noticed they used the same stone as my chimney has. I'm going to ask my neighbor since he's the one that redid the bridges and see if he can tell me where he got the stone from. They had a huge pile of the stone down near the entrance to the lake. He might be able to tell me where he bought it from.

Rob,

I do always say "Function over form." So, as long as the chimney works then I don't care how it looks. Even though it does look goofy.

I just checked to see how well the cement setup. The block is in solid. The flue liner, I can pull out. I don't think I put enough cement on the bottom of it. Oh well, guess I'll do it again this weekend. Its clear however, I have no idea what I'm doing.

So, it turns out I wasn't able to pull the flue liner out. I guess it was being held in by some of the cement but not all of it. It was a little loose I could rock it a bit. What I did, and I'm pretty sure it's wrong and I'm going to get yelled at for it but I did it anyway. What I did was took some furnace cement and put it on the seam where the cement and bottom of the liner meet. I let it dry over night and checked it this morning. I wasn't able to rock it anymore and it seemed to hold it in place.

My wife put the brakes on the additional 2', it would seem that spending an additional $230 for an extension ladder on top of the additional $50 for the two block and one flue liner would put us over our budget by $190 give or take. But, in her defense, the mortgage is due and that is a bit more important. In the past year I've had to learn to budget, its not easy for me. So, I'm leaving the 2' that I did manage to put on for now. Eventually, I'll add the 2' but not now. Scaffolding wasn't really pursued, mainly because I didn't understand the pricing of the rental nor how to setup or use it. So, after I called around for some prices and was confused I just kind of dropped it.

So, I cemented the top of it. Used some card board to keep the cement away from the flue tile that was sticking out. I was going to put the slate piece back on, but well...I couldn't lift it that high by myself, so instead of risking the throwing of my back out or falling off the roof I opted to just put a bunch of cement on the top and kind of round it a bit.

I also cemented the bottom where the block meet the original chimney, I put a small round on it too. Then for whatever reason I took whatever cement I had left and put it on the face of the block. Of course, I didn't have enough to do all four sides so it looks....well...off. Eventually I'd like to get that "Airstone" and put it around the block. I was looking at it this afternoon.

I wanted to get some high temp (700º) silicone but the place that carries it was closed. So, I went for (650º). I figured, if the top of my chimney is (650º) then I've got some larger problems. Like the nuclear meltdown in my living room.

Overall, I guess I'm happy with how it turned out. Even though, I'm not sure I did it correct or not. I'm not a mason and I kind of winged it. I do wish I could've gone the additional 2'. But, well...we can only do what we can at any given moment. Hopefully it works. Although, I'm kind of wondering now that it's a larger flue if I will still have draft issues. I guess I'll still need to use the draft inducer. But, I won't officially know until I fire the stove up.

Picture time!!!
Yes, that cap is "Made in the USA"; it's powder coated galvanized. No, I don't expect to get more than a few (1-2) seasons out of it.

overall I'd say that on a budget you did a pretty damn decent job. Good thinking on not leaving any horizontal areas on the chimney top. That small bit of extra height will make a difference, but when you get the chance Definitely add another section of tile for some more height.