Cutting hole in chimney
foxeye
YOu could be getting into a can or worms you don't want to open up
there. I don't want to seem like I am slamming you, but if you do not
know the proper procedure to do this, and exactly how the chimney is
constructed, you may be better off getting a professional do it for
you. Mistakes can lead to cracked flue liners, or gaps in the chimney
and lead to a fire. However you will need to drill a seried of holes
in a circle to enable you to break out the brick, without cracking the
flue liner. You need to make a hole large enough to be able to slide a
chimney thnmble into, , trim off the thimble so it does not protude
further than it should, and then seal up the space between the chimney
and thimble and flue liner with cement. You will need a masonary
drill, cold chisels, hammer, and a drill. A rotary hammer works well.
I saw exactly what you need the other day while I was at a equipment
dealers. They had some diamond tipped hole / plug saws, for cutting
large holes in concrete and masonary..they had them up to 12" in
diameter......lots of $$$$.
Have you considered going in through the fireplaces opening. They make
metal relining kits with all the appropriate pieces to seal off the
fireplaces dampner and smoke shelf etc.. Now if you went with the
metal stuff for relining the chimney as well, you would not have to
worry about damaging the flue liner. Where you can have problems is
in a large masonary brick chimney, that has a lot of space between it
and the flue liners. Some contractors fill this space up with debris
such as broken brick, or sand, others do nothing. If you crack the
liner, then you always have the option of metal reliner materials.
lots of luck
foxeye
On Sat, 2 Jan 1999 09:12:08 -0600, "Harold Anderson"
<llf...@pobox.com> wrote:
>>-I am planning on putting a wood stove in front of our fireplace and need to cut a hole in the chimney to put the flue through. I'd appreciate any advice on how to cut the hole so that it does least amount of damage to the ceramic liner.
The opinions expressed are mine, and mine alone.
My wife had no input whatsoever.Remove www from
email for correct address.
Sandy Kear
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>I am planning on putting a wood stove in front of our fireplace and need =
>to cut a hole in the chimney to put the flue through. I'd appreciate =
>any advice on how to cut the hole so that it does least amount of damage =
>to the ceramic liner.
That's an EXTREMELY dangerous thing to try. In fact, it's so dangerous that
it's created a new-fangled thing called a "fireplace insert". That's a
woodburning stove that's designed to sit in your fireplace and use the
existing chimney - without risking cracks in the chimney or liner that could
burn your house down so fast that you might not have time to get out.
Not to mention the fact that it'll just look like heck.
Sandy
tgb
>
> I am planning on putting a wood stove in front of our fireplace and
> appreciate any advice on how to cut the hole so that it does least
> amount of damage to the ceramic liner.
With all due respect to the two others who have responded to this so
far I don't know that it's as dangerous as they (perhaps somewhat
unintentionally) made it out to be, though I do think that unless it's
already too late you might indeed want to look into either the
"fireplace insert" idea (there are some great units for this now), or
the other one of foxeye's about running your stove pipe up through the
existing flue using the prefab components you can now buy to do this.
At any rate I had a woodstove put in my living room a year or so ago
where the chimney chase ran. There was no fireplace, the chimney was
used to vent the basement furnace before a high efficiency furnace was
installed. My woodstove installer simply "swiss cheesed" a circle into
the chimney with a non-hammer drill and masonry bits. Took a little time
and he certainly was careful in not banging around so as to avoid
cracking the flue tiles, but no big deal. Now I admit that I would not
have tried that myself before, and even if I were to do it now I think
the primary thing is to make DAMN sure the chimney and flue tiles are in
good condition beforehand and you know what you are doing in terms of
putting in the thimble and if I ran into any problem or even apparent
problem I'd call up a pro to help me out, but it wasn't rocket science.
I will say this though, the nature of your question can lead to some
concern that you are just kinda winging this installation like a
handyman who has always been able to get things done and hence probably
explains the others' well-intentioned fears because I can see that while
this stuff was not rocket science, not knowing that you gotta do "X" or
avoid "Y" can lead to catastrophic consequences you might not find with
other projects. Maybe there's some good books out there explaining
things.
Bottom line is that given what I've now observed and learned I think a
self-installation is not unreasonable for someone who's handy, prepared,
methodical and careful. But you ought to make sure you understand things
thoroughly first, check with your local building inspector beforehand
and talk with him about your plans, have your chimney inspected first to
make sure you don't need a SS liner, and talk with your home ins. agent
first as well. (And be ready to call a pro if you run into snags, or
maybe consult one beforehand and pay him a bit to guide you through
things. Some of these guys like helping do-it-yourselfers. )
tgb
Harold Anderson
Maybe I should have given a bit more background before bringing this up.
Our chimney has a double flue with one side being used for the furnace
coming from the basement. We had the chimney inspected soon after we bought
the place 2 years ago and the expert said one side was bad and the other was
good. We installed a s/s insert in the bad side and are using that for the
furnace. We then intended to put a fireplace insert into the fireplace.
That idea is still possible but we're considering doing some more extensive
remodelling in the future at which point we may be redoing our
fireplace/chimney entirely. So we got another expert to come out and give
us some options. He said the least expensive option was to put a stove in
front of the fireplace, cutting a hole in the chimney for the flue. He
recommended that I do it myself - he's too busy to take on such a small job
(that seems to be a big problem in our area - contractors are too busy to
work:-). He suggested that I rent a hammer drill to drill a series of holes
outlining the larger hole and punch it out as described. I am concerned
about the use of a hammer drill to go through ceramic liner as it seems that
would be like hammering on it. Seems that it could cause damage to the
liner. That's why I decided to write to the experts on this newsgroup. I
want a second opinion.
I am handy. I've added a second floor on two homes that I've owned,
renovated a cabin, worked as a furniture maker and cabinetmaker, and
currently sculpt plaster and plastic and contour metal shapes. But I've
never punched a hole through a chimney.
I appreciate the advice. Oh, and about putting the flue in from the
fireplace. That's the way I would like to do it. If I cut the legs off of
the wood stove I have which is about the smallest I could find, it will just
slide into the fireplace which has a very low opening. The expert said that
it would be too difficult to install that way due to the large damper in the
top of the fireplace.
Harold
xzer...@cris.com
chimney size for a fireplace generally larger than for most stoves. What
will happen is, the flue velocity will be less, the flue gases will be
in the chimney longer and tend to deposit more creosote. More frequent
cleanings and more risk of a chimney fire.
What I've seen done is to run one of those new flex pipes down the
existing flue, out the fireplace opening and to the flue collar on the
stove. Makes for a much safer installation, as the flue is the correct
size for the stove, and you have the benefit of both the new pipe and
the undamaged existing flue liner.
--
Bob Reite
zer...@xcrisx.com
remove the anti-spam "x"es from e-mail address to reply.
G0789
>to cut a hole in the chimney to put the flue through. I'd appreciate =
>any advice on how to cut the hole so that it does least amount of damage =
>to the ceramic liner.
tgb
>
> Thanks TGB, Sandy, and Foxeye....
Hell yes, Harold! Give it a go! That's the misc.rural do-it-yourselfer
ethic, especially as in this case it's obvious you _have_ done your
homework. As to the use of the hammer drill I kind of concur and as I
said the pro who installed mine used a non hammer drill I'm pretty sure,
and I'd at least start with that to try it. I'd also make a first
"swiss-cheesed" hole substantially less than the ultimate circumference
that you need. Gives you an idea about cracking, whether you need a
hammer drill, etc. Maybe one little little hole first made by only six
or seven drill holes?
Like I said though you might want to ask the pro you talked with to at
least eyespeck it before you put in the thimble, and remember about the
building inspector and home ins. check; those last two can really give
you sweats. I've heard some home ins. will not cover homes with wood
stoves even if they are up to code. And also remember to that your stove
will need a minimum flue size—probably six inches?—though it sounds like
you've got a nice big modern double flue chimney.
Let us know how it goes. You will love the woodstove.
tgb
Sandy Kear
>work:-). He suggested that I rent a hammer drill to drill a series of holes
>outlining the larger hole and punch it out as described. I am concerned
>about the use of a hammer drill to go through ceramic liner as it seems that
>would be like hammering on it. Seems that it could cause damage to the
>liner. That's why I decided to write to the experts on this newsgroup. I
>want a second opinion.
>
Ah.
Well, since you seem to have done your homework (didn't know about that
before), I'd suggest you try asking around in one of the masonry newsgroups to
find out what kind of drill and bit they'd recommend for your particular
liner/chimney.
Best of luck!
Sandy
Douglas Keachie
Harold Anderson wrote:
> Thanks TGB, Sandy, and Foxeye,
>
> Maybe I should have given a bit more background before bringing this up.
>
> (that seems to be a big problem in our area - contractors are too busy to
> work:-). He suggested that I rent a hammer drill to drill a series of holes
> outlining the larger hole and punch it out as described. I am concerned
> about the use of a hammer drill to go through ceramic liner as it seems that
> would be like hammering on it. Seems that it could cause damage to the
> liner.
I use to make lamps out of ceramic vases, and we we instructed to very carefully
use a masonary drill to s l o w l y cut through (the vases were supplied by
customers). All I can imagine is enormous damage to the ceramic liner if you
went after it with a hammer drill.
Keachie