The saga continues…

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KG19

New Member
May 15, 2022
61
SW Wisconsin
I posted about 3 months ago after having a chimney company come out and do a pre install inspection while in the process of buying a new stove to replace my current one, the outcome was that I need a new insulated liner (I’ll link the original thread here).

Well after getting a few quotes and 3 months of waiting for parts to come (and not using my stove) today the company (different from the original inspection) came to take out my old liner and install a new insulated flex liner.

Wellll… they got up on the roof and started looking, and then came down and said they’d have to shut down and return my down payment. It turns out that the liner in there right now was ovalized and smashed into shape (probably installed in 70s or 80s) and even if they were able to get it all out, there would not be room to put in an insulated 6” liner. So, more huge disappointment for me. They basically said that they think my only options would be

A) put in a 6” uninsulated liner and pour in insulation? They estimated that would cost like 10-12k (not in my price range)

B) put in a 5.5” insulated liner, which they said is approved in Canada but for some reason not in the US (I live in the US), and I don’t want to do this as it’s not code and probably wouldn’t be covered by my homeowners insurance

C) put in a whole new metal chimney somewhere else and not use the existing masonry chimney

Or D) give up on using a wood stove. I can’t imagine this.

I’m not really sure what I’m even asking for here but it’s just really depressing to me. Not sure if anyone has any advice. Should I try to reach out to other contractors and get other opinions?
 
I say option C. Dont give up man. Anything is possible.
 
Or just exhaust through a wall, and have an exterior running stove pipe. Not optimal but far better than just giving up.
 
Or just exhaust through a wall, and have an exterior running stove pipe. Not optimal but far better than just giving up.
That is option C. It's not stove pipe outside but chimney pipe.

OP: Bummer man!
 
I posted about 3 months ago after having a chimney company come out and do a pre install inspection while in the process of buying a new stove to replace my current one, the outcome was that I need a new insulated liner (I’ll link the original thread here).

Well after getting a few quotes and 3 months of waiting for parts to come (and not using my stove) today the company (different from the original inspection) came to take out my old liner and install a new insulated flex liner.

Wellll… they got up on the roof and started looking, and then came down and said they’d have to shut down and return my down payment. It turns out that the liner in there right now was ovalized and smashed into shape (probably installed in 70s or 80s) and even if they were able to get it all out, there would not be room to put in an insulated 6” liner. So, more huge disappointment for me. They basically said that they think my only options would be

A) put in a 6” uninsulated liner and pour in insulation? They estimated that would cost like 10-12k (not in my price range)

B) put in a 5.5” insulated liner, which they said is approved in Canada but for some reason not in the US (I live in the US), and I don’t want to do this as it’s not code and probably wouldn’t be covered by my homeowners insurance

C) put in a whole new metal chimney somewhere else and not use the existing masonry chimney

Or D) give up on using a wood stove. I can’t imagine this.

I’m not really sure what I’m even asking for here but it’s just really depressing to me. Not sure if anyone has any advice. Should I try to reach out to other contractors and get other opinions?
Or remove the old clay tiles making room for an insulated 6" liner. Or install a 6" equivalent oval liner with insulation
 
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I posted about 3 months ago after having a chimney company come out and do a pre install inspection while in the process of buying a new stove to replace my current one, the outcome was that I need a new insulated liner (I’ll link the original thread here).

Well after getting a few quotes and 3 months of waiting for parts to come (and not using my stove) today the company (different from the original inspection) came to take out my old liner and install a new insulated flex liner.

Wellll… they got up on the roof and started looking, and then came down and said they’d have to shut down and return my down payment. It turns out that the liner in there right now was ovalized and smashed into shape (probably installed in 70s or 80s) and even if they were able to get it all out, there would not be room to put in an insulated 6” liner. So, more huge disappointment for me. They basically said that they think my only options would be

A) put in a 6” uninsulated liner and pour in insulation? They estimated that would cost like 10-12k (not in my price range)

B) put in a 5.5” insulated liner, which they said is approved in Canada but for some reason not in the US (I live in the US), and I don’t want to do this as it’s not code and probably wouldn’t be covered by my homeowners insurance

C) put in a whole new metal chimney somewhere else and not use the existing masonry chimney

Or D) give up on using a wood stove. I can’t imagine this.

I’m not really sure what I’m even asking for here but it’s just really depressing to me. Not sure if anyone has any advice. Should I try to reach out to other contractors and get other opinions?
Get another opinion. This is a very tall chimney. Dropping down in liner size may be appropriate.
Some Regency stoves can take a 5.5" liner. An oval liner from DuraLiner or an ovalize liner with insulation have already been suggested.
 
I personally did option C

However my existing chimney was on the side of the house and was just made up of concrete chimney blocks and clay liner. I had someone demo it for me and then had a carpenter replace the siding. I put up the metal chimney my self (I literally couldn't find a pro in my area who was willing to follow the directions and install per the manufacturers spec).

It was a ton of work but I now know I have a nice / safe setup that I can easily keep clean my self.
 
Or remove the old clay tiles making room for an insulated 6" liner. Or install a 6" equivalent oval liner with insulation
From what they told me, the chimney is double bricked (?) which doesn’t leave room for the 8” outer diameter, I don’t believe there are any clay tiles in the chimney. They seemed unsure of whether or not oval chimney liners even exist but maybe they had just lost too much time on the project already and didn’t want to continue… so would something like this be what you’re talking about?

 
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From what they told me, the chimney is double bricked (?) which doesn’t leave room for the 8” outer diameter, I don’t believe there are any clay tiles in the chimney. They seemed unsure of whether or not oval chimney liners even exist but maybe they had just lost too much time on the project already and didn’t want to continue… so would something like this be what you’re talking about?

They honestly sound pretty clueless there are all sorts of oval square and rectangle liners
 
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Curious how they got up there? Ladder on the roof and leaned up against chimney?

Might be worth your time to see if anyone you know has a drone you can fly up there and record some video of it.
I was finally able to get some pictures from up there. It looks like a total hack job… they had masoned in the liners to the top of the chimney. I think the guys that were here maybe started chipping away at it and saw the bricks there and just gave up at that point. It’s weird that they didn’t tell me about the liner being masoned into the chimney like that though. Anyways, ever seen anything like this? Haha

IMG_0459.pngIMG_0460.pngIMG_0461.png
 
I posted about 3 months ago after having a chimney company come out and do a pre install inspection while in the process of buying a new stove to replace my current one, the outcome was that I need a new insulated liner (I’ll link the original thread here).

Well after getting a few quotes and 3 months of waiting for parts to come (and not using my stove) today the company (different from the original inspection) came to take out my old liner and install a new insulated flex liner.

Wellll… they got up on the roof and started looking, and then came down and said they’d have to shut down and return my down payment. It turns out that the liner in there right now was ovalized and smashed into shape (probably installed in 70s or 80s) and even if they were able to get it all out, there would not be room to put in an insulated 6” liner. So, more huge disappointment for me. They basically said that they think my only options would be

A) put in a 6” uninsulated liner and pour in insulation? They estimated that would cost like 10-12k (not in my price range)

B) put in a 5.5” insulated liner, which they said is approved in Canada but for some reason not in the US (I live in the US), and I don’t want to do this as it’s not code and probably wouldn’t be covered by my homeowners insurance

C) put in a whole new metal chimney somewhere else and not use the existing masonry chimney

Or D) give up on using a wood stove. I can’t imagine this.

I’m not really sure what I’m even asking for here but it’s just really depressing to me. Not sure if anyone has any advice. Should I try to reach out to other contractors and get other opinions?
Simpson dura vent makes an insolated liner in oval to help with this

 
I posted about 3 months ago after having a chimney company come out and do a pre install inspection while in the process of buying a new stove to replace my current one, the outcome was that I need a new insulated liner (I’ll link the original thread here).

Well after getting a few quotes and 3 months of waiting for parts to come (and not using my stove) today the company (different from the original inspection) came to take out my old liner and install a new insulated flex liner.

Wellll… they got up on the roof and started looking, and then came down and said they’d have to shut down and return my down payment. It turns out that the liner in there right now was ovalized and smashed into shape (probably installed in 70s or 80s) and even if they were able to get it all out, there would not be room to put in an insulated 6” liner. So, more huge disappointment for me. They basically said that they think my only options would be

A) put in a 6” uninsulated liner and pour in insulation? They estimated that would cost like 10-12k (not in my price range)

B) put in a 5.5” insulated liner, which they said is approved in Canada but for some reason not in the US (I live in the US), and I don’t want to do this as it’s not code and probably wouldn’t be covered by my homeowners insurance

C) put in a whole new metal chimney somewhere else and not use the existing masonry chimney

Or D) give up on using a wood stove. I can’t imagine this.

I’m not really sure what I’m even asking for here but it’s just really depressing to me. Not sure if anyone has any advice. Should I try to reach out to other contractors and get other opinions?
i am an installer in Canada, here we have to have a continuous liner, from top to bottom but are aloud to go down 1 inch so 5 inch liners are ok to use here , but my understanding is that in the USA you do not need to run the liner the hole way so its something like 4 or 8 feet off the top of the insert
 
I would run as well ;lol Hack job is an understatement. That is above my paygrade to tell you your next step other then finding a real expert to figure out what to do next. That is not going to be a cheap fix.
I had the original stove/chimney company that I had been working with back in December come back out and they took these pictures. They told me that they have dealt with similar things before, and luckily it looks like things are pretty loose so they don’t think it will be a major project to get the liner out… it will be expensive though I’m sure as they might need a lift. And the fact that the chimney liner will be 35’ or so…
 
Is there any point in the chimney that it appears to be an addition? There may be a real clay liner in there a few feet down and someone did a diy extension with single wall stove pipe and brick. I would think you could see the old vs new mortar line though.
 
Is there any point in the chimney that it appears to be an addition? There may be a real clay liner in there a few feet down and someone did a diy extension with single wall stove pipe and brick. I would think you could see the old vs new mortar line though.
I’m nearly 100% positive that there is no addition to it. At least, I’m positive that the metal liner runs all the way down to the termination in the basement.
 
My set up isnt ideal. but what could be worse than this?