Nest way to get unsealing charmas1/6/2024 ![]() (Poured chimney liners are all done with Portland-based, lightweight refractory mortars.) We vibrated the forms constantly using machines strapped to the formers to eliminate the potential for voids, and monitored the basement, fireplace, and third-floor closet areas for leaks. Our crew set up the pump and mixer and slowly poured SolidFlue lightweight chimney refractory mortar around the two forms. We removed the anachronistic 1980s-era brick mantel, and set the Victorian insert into the fireplace so we could pull the chimney form through the damper hole on the insert’s back side. The second form was dropped down the fireplace itself. The first form was lowered down the chimney and over to the basement boiler’s flue thimble. The new Victorian-style fireplace insert fit the space well, but its backplate didn’t completely conceal the old brick. Each had 1″ springs crimped around it at 24″ intervals along the tube to keep the forms off the chimney’s brick walls and separated from each other. Then we dropped two 6″ inflatable rubber forms-like big balloons-down the existing chimney. We also raised the mechanical flue’s connection to the chimney in the fireplace throat so that it didn’t turn so abruptly into the flue. In order to access the third-floor spots, we had to break through-and then repair-an interior wall, but fortunately we were able to do this through a closet. To restore the chimney’s structural integrity, my team repointed it above the roofline and closed holes in the mortar joints on the third floor. ![]() As an added bonus, the stove’s backplate would cover up the plain and inappropriate brick fireplace surround that detracted from the home’s original charm. ![]() To solve the problem, I suggested installing a Victorian cast iron wood-burning insert capable of drafting through a 6″ round flue. While we could fit another 6″ round liner in the existing space, at 30″ wide, the fireplace needed at least a 9″ round flue to work properly. But getting the fireplace working again was a different story. (For more about lining chimneys, see Making Sense of Chimney Liners.) The original chimney was large enough to accommodate a 6″ round flue to vent the boiler and hot water heater, which would protect the masonry chimney, provide a superior draft for the appliances, and close all potential holes through which carbon monoxide might escape. The masonry flue needed to be lined, and we decided to use a cast-in-place liner. The Friedman-Sorensons wanted the chimney repaired, and they also hoped to get the fireplace in good working order since the flue’s reconfiguration caused the fireplace to smoke up the room whenever it was used. In addition, holes that had worn through the mortar on the third floor could allow potentially deadly carbon monoxide to enter the living area. Their unlined brick chimney-which had been reconfigured to vent the boiler-was becoming structurally unsound.īefore the project, the fireplace could only safely hold lighted candles, and its brick mantel didn’t match the home’s architecture. Acidic effluents from decades of boiler use had eaten away significant portions of the brick mortar above the roofline and in the third floor area of the house. When the Friedman-Sorenson family, owners of an 1860 Greek Revival worker’s cottage, contacted me, their boiler maintenance company had just informed them that their boiler’s venting system had become dangerous. Getting a central-heat-retrofitted fireplace back to good wood-burning order is a job best tackled through a series of methodical steps. I’m sure our forebears felt that sacrificing a fireplace for the modern convenience of central heat was no sacrifice at all, but today’s old-house enthusiasts may not agree. Voila, the homeowners had central heat and an end to the drudgery of heating with fireplaces. The easiest solution was to punch a hole in the brick hearth (fireplace floor) nearest the furnace or boiler, route a metal duct through the flue, and brick up the mouth of the affected fireplace. The new heating system, powered by coal and later oil, needed a flue to vent the byproducts of combustion. ![]() When central heating was installed in pre-Victorian houses, it was often at the expense of an original wood-burning fireplace. The restored fireplace, with a new insert and two cast-in-place flue liners in the chimney, now safely vents two appliances-hot water heater and boiler-in addition to holding a crackling fire.
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