Chimney needs repaired...ouch

[bholler]

I knew I used to work too cheap.

$800 for flashing wow i dont charge enough either

 

[Jo191145]

well you can do decorative forms it doesnt have to be a simple slab. But i do agree there are some chimneys that an overhanging crown does not look right on and i don't do it on them. As far as the smoke shelf goes it must be regional i never put in smoke shelves regardless of the fireplace design and have never failed an inspection we do them with both thought and top sealing dampers and they all work well and are much easier to clean. But if inspectors in your area require them then that is what you need to do.

Ya know I tried that once on alight pole on my own house. Used some wood decorative scroll work pieces usually applied to fine furniture. It didn't come out well, I failed. It came out just OK. It was fun to try but I didn't try twice. Went a different route with layers of bluestone and thin rips of natural stone between them. I was pleased with that result.
Perhaps my mix wasn't rich enough. Perhaps not soft enough. I had tiny bubbles in the face also even though I had tapped it pretty good I thought.
I'm sure I could have gotten it right eventually but I'm happier with the way I went instead.

 

[bholler]

Ya know I tried that once on alight pole on my own house. Used some wood decorative scroll work pieces usually applied to fine furniture. It didn't come out well, I failed. It came out just OK. It was fun to try but I didn't try twice. Went a different route with layers of bluestone and thin rips of natural stone between them. I was pleased with that result.
Perhaps my mix wasn't rich enough. Perhaps not soft enough. I had tiny bubbles in the face also even though I had tapped it pretty good I thought.
I'm sure I could have gotten it right eventually but I'm happier with the way I went instead.

Most that we do are just slabs but we do a few a year that i make the forms out of wood and run a crown molding profile on the inside with my shaper. They end up looking pretty good but yeah the mix needs to be pretty soft. There are commercially available decorative forms as well but i have a full wood shop so it is no big deal for me to make wooden ones. And besides the commercial ones are pretty flimsy they don't work well if the crown is very big

 

[Jo191145]

$800 for flashing wow i dont charge enough either

When I scoot down to the Hamptons I use nothing but gold leaf over my flashing
Mix the mortar with Perrier also.

Not a laughing matter really. I dislike people who want to work one day a week and laugh at thier customers the other six.

 

[bholler]

If they were using copper that may not be to out of line. The last chimney i did out of copper it was $450 just for the materials. And it wasn't a very big chimney

 

[jotul?]

Not to butt in gentlemen, but bholler already knows what I'm going to recommend to the OP; find the nearest large construction site and ask for the bricklayers trailer or foreman. Be prepared to leave your name and number with a description of the work you need done. Chimney rebuilds are side job nirvana for a lot of guys that only have the opportunity to work mostly on block farms.

 

[Jo191145]

Not to butt in gentlemen, but bholler already knows what I'm going to recommend to the OP; find the nearest large construction site and ask for the bricklayers trailer or foreman. Be prepared to leave your name and number with a description of the work you need done. Chimney rebuilds are side job nirvana for a lot of guys that only have the opportunity to work mostly on block farms.

It's not a bad suggestion. It's also not a guarantee the OP will find an honest, knowledgable Mason not looking to get rich on a Saturday.
I work in the Mason Union now. I've heard plenty of Monday morning stories detailing such things. I usually walk away from such stories if you know what I mean.
Still, it's not a bad suggestion.

 

[ewang]

I just had a new crown poured on my 48x30 stack. Cost me $880

 

[jotul?]

No, no guarantee, but if someone is interested, and they show up when they say they will to look at the job, and they don't charge anything just to look, and they don't have a Bob Marley spliff hanging out of their mouth while discussing the estimate, you may get some good work at a fair price. Chance you take no matter who does the job.

 

[bholler]

No, no guarantee, but if someone is interested, and they show up when they say they will to look at the job, and they don't charge anything just to look, and they don't have a Bob Marley spliff hanging out of their mouth while discussing the estimate, you may get some good work at a fair price. Chance you take no matter who does the job.

but with a licensed and insured contractor if something goes wrong you have some more recourse.

 

[NHcpa]

Here's an ouch...$4400...but well worth it. listen to BHOLLER, professionally installed after years of duct tape and putty.

 

[bholler]

Here's an ouch...$4400...but well worth it. listen to BHOLLER, professionally installed after years of duct tape and putty.

Yeah when you need allot of setup like that it can get expensive in a hurry. In our area $4400 would be high for that but not that high unless that included a liner as well

 

[NHcpa]

No liner except for 1 section I knocked over because I was Curious George... the chimney was 3 flues, about 7' high and 6+ wide.the chimney was also filled with about 90 mud buckets of sand and rock insulating the liner to the brick. It's the weekend Bholler, just tell me it was a $10k job and I made out like a bandit. also included new cap and sealant (which I requested).

 

[bholler]

I dint realize it was that big. In that case you made out great lol. Seriously at that size it doesn't sound to out of line. especially with the added hassle of removing all that sand. We have run into a few like that. One was filled with shale that was a real pain in the ass

 

[NHcpa]

I dint realize it was that big. In that case you made out great lol. Seriously at that size it doesn't sound to out of line. especially with the added hassle of removing all that sand. We have run into a few like that. One was filled with shale that was a real pain in the ass

Thanks. I hired a second generation local masonry contractor and was very pleased with the results.

 

[jotul?]

but with a licensed and insured contractor if something goes wrong you have some more recourse.

Recourse! Of course! Sorry, couldn't resist. I have no problem with a contractor of any stripe that does his job correctly. You would have no way of knowing this, but you are talking to a guy who once veneered a fireplace face about 6'wX8'h plus the hearth face and sides, plus setting the hearth top, for $400 and 400 board feet of cabinet grade maple. It was culture stone (that dumb dry stack that everyone loves) and the homeowner had already hung wire and parged, so I figured why not. I just like to build stuff. It skewes my prices.

 

[bholler]

You do realize that that maple is typically around 2 to 2.50 a board foot. so that makes your bill $1200 $1400 which is higher than what i would charge unless you provided the stone to. And no i dont have a problem with guys doing side work also i know you can get good work done at a good price that way but when you give that advice it should come along with the warning that those guys are uninsured and unlicensed.

 

[jotul?]

Nope, no realize. It was about 8 or 10 years ago. The homeowner was one of our laborers turned cabinet maker and that's what he offered me. I gave the maple to my dad and kept the $400. I don't know wood stuff, but dad has a wood shop for a hobby, and was happy to have it.

 

[bholler]

* to 10 years ago i was working as a custom cabinet maker and the price was about the same then as well. Lumber price dropped in between then and now but it is back up again.