Chimney Repair Dilemma (Video and photos included!)

cormie

Hey folks,
My mam is in a bit of a pickle with some recent damage that occurred to her chimney liner. The fire has been out of action for weeks now while she's trying to choose the best solution but she's been given so many different opinions on what needs to be done she doesn't know what to do!

For starters, here's cctv of the damage:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2m6YVHKlCUM

And the piece that came down:


And the fireplace:


And the house itself: http://omg.wthax.org/7gZ2Jd.jpg


Due to finances, she's going to have to go through the house insurance to get the repair dealt with. She's been wanting to get a stove for a number of years now and from a very informative thread and expert advice I've been telling her not to go for a cheap stove and if she's doing any improvements, to do it properly or not at all. The best solution determined from the thread and what I've been advising her is to ditch the back boiler system in the house and go with a clearview stove to heat the downstairs and a gas boiler to heat the rads etc in the rest of the house. To do this all properly, she'd be looking at a bill in the region of €7,000 which is just not a possibility right now.

With that in mind, she doesn't want to be wasting money on getting this repair done, if it's done in a way that will make it difficult/more expensive to pursue the stove/gas boiler idea should she ever save enough. So if it can be done in a way that will repair the chimney for use over the next few years and then the chimney would actually be ready for a stove installation should she save the money, then this would be ideal.

This is a brief run down of all the options she's been given from different companies:
Company 1) open chimney, remove damaged flue liners,line chimney with clay liners and fill around liner with infill, build up blockwork and replaster, use formicula, remove all waste. €3,600+ vat
Company 2) Put in SS 904L flue and stacked sections will all have to come out
Company 3) Put in 316flue - she asked him about 904L and he said it's too expensive
Company 4) Put in SS904L and seal around liner with Eldfast
Company 5) These said not to use Edlfast that you can have problems with it down the road (I'm not sure what they meant by this).

So a lot of different suggestions there. She was trying to see if it was going to be possible to get a stove installation done through the insurance but I doubt it as they only do like for like repairs as far as I know.

So just looking for any advice as the advice I received here before was amazing. Another thing I was thinking is if there's any of these home improvement or better energy/environmental grants she may be able to get at the same time of the insurance repair money where perhaps getting the stove installed may be an option (again a good quality non back boiler clearview one) and then just use the immersion as she needs it and perhaps get the gas installed a few years down the line so at least half of the ideal would be done and no money wasted on inferior solutions.

Would really appreciate any feedback on this

kevinkmb36

why is your mam against fitting a stove with a back boiler?
considering the pipes are already there, obviously you would need a plumber to check that pipes and tank are suitable ..

put a 904 liner down chimney, 150mm, fill with vermiculite, fit to stove..away you go....

cormie

Hi, thanks for the input. The best solution was deemed to be a stove without back boiler in the thread I linked to above and then just have a gas boiler installed too, this was after a huge discussion and research on the above thread so would like to stick to that.

Whether it's possible to get this somewhat prepared for the possibility of a stove at some stage in the future is the questions, can it be done so a stove can be fit in down the line without issue and still be able to use the fire to burn coal in the mean time until she has money saved up (that could be never) or is there any grants etc that might go towards saving even a little?

kevinkmb36

well i think the only option is to get the chimney relined with clay flues so,.
im pretty sure this should be covered by house insurance as have come across this before. the insurers will send out an assessor and with your video of liner boken, should be no poblem in my opinion...

cormie

Thanks for that, but would it not be possible to just put a 904 liner down and all other preparations that would typically be made for a stove (in this case maybe just use eldoplast as suggested), and just have the open fire use this until perhaps one day she can afford (or I can afford to get her :pac:) a clearview stove, simple install and with no work needing to be done to the chimney and it can be used straight away? And then if money is ever in abundance, to then get gas installed at a later date.

Her main desire is to just have heat downstairs, she's not too concerned about having heat upstairs anyway, she loves an open fire and would love a stove even more and rightly so

What about any home energy saving grants etc, is there anything that she could try apply for in conjunction with the insurance and get a stove much cheaper?

kevinkmb36

to have an open fire, you are supposed to have a 200mm fkue liner, for the stove, you will use a 150mm liner, get onto the insurance company, get the chimney relined with a clay liner....then cheaper option when fitting the stove, is to use a reducer intp the clay liner and not to flexi line the chimney fo the stove when cost is the issue.
i dont know whether any grants are available....

cormie

Thanks again for the input, ah yeah, I think I remember my mam mentioned that about needing the 200mm instead of the 150. To be honest though, if we eventually decided on the stove option, I wouldn't want to go the cheap route for this, I'd want it done properly, that means proper liner and a decent stove like a clearview and that's where the dilemma comes, whether or not it's possible to get the work done now, so instead of repairing it for ideal use as an open fire, it's repaired for ideal use for a stove. If that 50mm doesn't make too much of a difference and the open fire can be used in a chimney ideally designed for a stove, then that might be the best bet. Is it a case of efficiency, or is it more to do with health and safety?

If we could somehow gather funds for a proper clearview stove, I guess the best option by far would be to just get it repaired for use as a stove, meaning the insurance could cover the cost to get the liner etc done professionally and properly?

cormie

Looks like my mam has decided to go with company 1. I'm not too sure what to think of this, I think it's a bit of a waste of money myself if it would be better to prepare the chimney for a stove. If I had the money I'd be giving her a lend to get the stove fitted now and the chimney lined for a stove. It's coming to Summer now so maybe it would be best to hold off and see how finances are when the winter is approaching and do the work then, maybe a stove would be more feasible if saving is a possibility!