Love the house so far but have concerns about the inspection report with the chimney leaning would be the biggest concern besides that the other major is the hvac and furnace are 28 years old. Going to have to get a chimney specialist to see what's going on. Hopefully it's something minor and then maybe get a home warranty. Little worried that it's going to be costly. This house was close to the top of our budget. Still waiting for radon to come back tomorrow and hopefully that's fine.

We put a bid on a flipped house. Need advice on this chimney. It’s an old house and there isn’t a fireplace so this seems to be the exhaust for water heater/furnace. We are in negotiations with the seller and they aren’t budging. Explain to me like I’m 10 how this can be fixed and how much. Prefer to tear out and install something more modern. Also, tell me what’s wrong with this. Thank you!

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I think I'm looking to add a fireplace insert to my round freestanding stone chimney column with a curved masonry opening. The opening is approximately 23" tall, 42" wide (chord, not arc length), and 24" deep, with a 2" hearth lip. The stone face is rough fieldstone so getting a clean straight edge against it is basically impossible.

Had an installer out who only recommended a freestanding stove with no surround which would leave an ugly gap and exposed stovepipe. I'm not satisfied with that answer.

I'm open to custom fabrication, masonry modification, anything really. Just looking for ideas to enclose this/add some heating efficiency that I may not have considered.

Has anyone dealt with a round/curved opening like this? What worked?

After some serious rain last week (5inches in 24 hours) we noticed our ceiling leaking through a crack in the plaster near the chimney. (See second photo)

We had someone come take a look (first photo set) and were told our flashing was not adequately installed/sealed when we bought the house.

The estimate we were given (photo three) to remove, inspect, and replace the chimney flashing is $1,200.00.

Our house is a 1940 cape cod and the roof is extremely steep.

I am weighing the pros and cons of accepting this quote and letting the professionals handle it versus trying to DIY fix it.

Any advice or suggestion is welcome.

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Hi everyone,

I bought a house 7 years ago which had a stainless liner installed in the chimney. Last year I decided I wanted to actually try to use the fireplace, so bought and installed a used regency wood burning insert.

I then had a chimney company come out to inspect the whole setup and make sure I was good to burn. I also wanted a cap of some sort installed because I pulled 2 garbage bags' worth of birds nests out of the liner when I cleaned it while I installing my insert.

Well my install was ok, but they found that my chimney is actually too short. It is 15" above my roof, should be 24". The company quoted me on removing the stone cap, adding a proper top plate and a section of insulated pipe, and a cap. $750. Then they ghosted me. I suspect that they underquoted that work and then decided they didn't want to do it.

I've contacted 2 other chimney repair people who all give me a weird look when I tell them what this company recommended. Are they crazy? Do I really need to extend my chimney? Can I just set some sort of cap on and go ahead and burn next winter?

We had a chimney sweep come by and do a routine cleaning. he said that he saw cracks in the chimney (photos below) and in order to fix it would need to do a full cement re-lining of the chimney. with total cost ~$10K. ($5K of which is labor).

do these cracks really warrant a full re-lining job? does the 10K seem egregious? (based in tahoe city, CA).

any help/thoughts are highly appreciated! thank you

Back story:

We bought our home in Massachusetts exactly a year ago today.

Around November we had our oil furnace converted to natural gas. About 3 weeks later we noticed this stuff dripping through the moulding in our kitchen. We contacted a local chimney guy who took a look and realized there was never a liner installed during the conversion as mass law apparently requires. After contacting the furnace company they admitted they missed that and chose to fix it free of charge (also turns out no permit pulled or inspection was done).

We thought this had solved the issue. But over the last few months we noticed it slowly happening again, seemingly when it rained a lot.

But these past 2 weeks it has been constant. We can clean it and it'll look like the picture again by the next day. Heat causing melting?

The exposed chimney and the attic and basement show signs of this stuff, but not to extent of what's dripping from the ceiling.

Any ideas of what is causing this or how to fix it?

Fireplace help

Hi I live in a 1930’s semi and really want to expose the bedroom fireplace and wondered if anyone could suggest what steps to take next

I’ve pulled the plaster board away but I’m not quite sure what I’m looking at

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated

Had a wood stove that we didn't use and got rid of it. The chimney was the metal type that cut in through the wall and vented out of the roof (not a brick chimney).

We're looking at sealing it off and I want to know what the best way to go about it is for both inside and outside. Inside we would have to cut it back a bit - am I good to just shove some insulation in it, or should we silicone a cap of some sort on?

For outside, is there a cap I can purchase or would I have to fabricate something? Not sure on measurements for the outside as I haven't made the trip up to the roof yet.

https://imgur.com/a/T6LnsG7

How should I go about fixing this single brick that is no longer stuck to the chimney outside of my house?

How bad was this install? My gut, level and AI all tell me it’s horrible.

Location: near Tampa, Florida

Got quotes to replace and they were 3-5k so I called a buddy of mine who works for a roofing company and asked if this was fair and the going rate. His company did my roof years back and as far as I know it was a great job.

He said it seemed high and he would see what his company could do it for. They mainly do commercial roofing (80%) so I figured they could handle a residential chimney chase cover.

He calls me back and says they can do it for 2k and hypes up this godly aluminum 050 they are going to use as they have some laying around the shop.

So eventually install day comes and the guy they sent out pieces it out in my front yard so there’s a seam in the middle. Aren’t these supposed to be one piece ? He claims it’s not a big deal and done all the time this way. He says his guy used expensive liquid flashing for everything like he was doing some kind of favor for me.

I wanted the middle cap piece replaced as well but claimed mine was in good shape, just surface rust.

As you can see by the level, I expect rain water to just hang out in the middle so is this install as bad as I think?

Is my buddy this ignorant (he’s a salesmen in the company, been doing it a long time) or does he think I’m this stupid? Or am I overreacting?

In hindsight I wish I just paid more but it was a buddy I thought I could trust.

Many thanks for any input before I go nuclear.

Photos provided. What’s the best process to repair the base of the chimney.

Hey, looking for some validation on an estimate I received. My chimney is dormant and is still exposed up top. A bunch of moisture is getting in and some old bricks on the inside of my house are starting to erode. A chimney guy came to my house today and said it would be $3500 to replace the two bricks on the inside that need to be repaired and also take down the chimney to the flashing on the outside of the house. That felt a little high, but curious if that pricing tracks with this group. Appreciate it!