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Chimney relining: what's involved?

  • 11-05-2013 10:57am
    #1
    antiskeptic
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 9,555 ✭✭✭


    Our 100 year old living room open fire flue has come to the end of it's useful life. It's crumbling and from time to time, bit's of it fall into the hearth. I'd imagine chimney fires of old have taken their toll too - you can see cracking of the flue where it exits the stack.

    I gather the two ways you can approach this are to open up the breast from ground floor up and remove the existing flue and replace it with like material. This sounds quite involved.

    Or get it relined using some or other flexible lining.

    Has anyone experience of the latter?

    - how well does it perform given you'd be reducing the diameter of the flue, a dimension which was presumably chosen for a reason

    - what kind of lifespan do they have in practice. We light our fire every day for about half the year through.

    - how invasive/dirty is it? I gather the fireplace has to come out to fit a receiver for the flexible flue.

    - is any one system noticeably better than another?

    - what are the key points to watch out for?


    Thanks for any insights..


Comments

  • #2
    muffler
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 46,555 ✭✭✭✭muffler


    Mod hat on: be careful with the replies here folks as this could well be a structural issue and our charter does not allow discussion on these issues.

    Hat off/ You really need to get a structural engineer to have a look. It might not simply be the flue. The whole chimney structure could have deteriorated to a point where it is unsafe.


  • #3
    rickmoister
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 67 ✭✭rickmoister


    As muffler says you may need to get an engineer to look at especially as it is 100 years +. There may not be any flue liners in the chimney or only a few near the top. You will firstly need to establish if the chimney itself is structurally sound if so there are a number of options depending on the type of appliance the chimney will be used for.

    1. Start at the bottom and open the chimney breast and remove old liners and replace with new ones and fill around and close as you go. A dirty job and needs to be done by someone with experience of old chimneys.

    2. A specialist company remove the old liners from above and below without opening the chimney breast. They put a rubber liner filled with air into the chimney and pump a mixture of pearlite etc. around the bag after the mixture has set the liner is deflated and removed leaving a smooth flue.Suitability depends on the size of the chimney.

    3. You could drop a flexible flue down the chimney but you need to check with the manufacturer that the flue is suitable for the fuel you intend to burn.

    All of the above are only suitable if the chimney is structurally sound so be sure to get it checked by an engineer.


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