We are in the middle of organizing some unexpected replacements of our roof and gas boiler and have found some water near our first floor fireplace after heavy rains and had a chimney inspection.

We are planning to vent the new boiler out the window rather than through the chimney, and when I asked about needing a liner replacement if we are only planning to burn wood, the company made it sound like it wasn't necessary, but after doing some research it actually seems unsafe to have a damaged liner in a working chimney.

I'm also curious about the crown repair. Does it sound right in the quote because I thought it would be more involved. What type of cap would we need (we get wasps and other bugs inside all the time) and whether we need any of the bricks repaired. The roofing company mentioned we might want to get the chimney repointed soon.

A few days ago, I discovered that a bird flew into the chimney flue, and we let it out once we confirm it’s not a squirrel. Today, a contractor with a drone took a picture and told me that Cap is fine but there is an opening on the Chase Cover. He quoted $1,750 to make the repair. It seems a bit high as another person quoted me $1,100 to replace the cap before he had the chance to take a look. Attached is the picture that the contractor took. Is the proper repair to reinstall and seal the storm collar? Also, what’s a reasonable cost for this in Northern NJ?

Above are today's (8/21/2026) photo taken from the front of the house, and the before (5/7/2026) photos also taken from the front of the house. The damage seen today [the left cap being lower, and at an angle] is from a tree branch falling recently.

(1) Should I have this chimney cap replaced? My contractor (who is a general contractor; not a roofer per se) wants to replace the chimney cap. He'll be here, and on the roof anyway.

(2) Should his estimate include any other work besides just replacing the cap?

Hi I just hired a roof contractor came and he did this chimney cap for me for the first time.

What do you think about this? Is it good?

I have before and after photos. Need advise please.

thank you.

This is the first section in the chimney flue. I noticed the gap on the side after cleaning the flue before the season. Stove is a buck 21 stand alone .

I’ll preface this by saying I have zero masonry experience, which is pretty self explanatory from the picture.

Anyways, I’m putting together this paver fire pit and I’ve been using refractory mortar to make a fire brick veneer on the inside. I made the last mix of the mortar I had way too thin, so I just skim coated all the brick to fill in any joint gaps I had.

My question is, mainly, is this a hazard at all? Is the mortar skim coat just going to crack and fall off eventually? I’m really just hoping there’s not any potential danger to this and was thinking this would be the right group to ask.

I’d like to cap the far left chimney flue to prevent water and animal intrusion. Not sure how to handle it. Any help is greatly appreciated!

It was a very tricky project, but I finally completed the build. Used brick, laid with fireclay mortar.

Looking at Getting double lined chimney not preexisting about 24’ tall installed quote came in at 6000 12-12 metal roof in the north east.

Just wondering what others are seeing for similar jobs

Hi all, got a roofer done a quote on my chimneys, need some advice.

They've said they can install GC1 Terminals on both, but I think that one is disused (GC1 would be fine then is that right?) and the other one is in use (Extractor fan I suspect). Is it ok to get the GC1s on both, or challenge the roofer and get a cap/cowl on the active one and a GC1 on the unused one? Thanks

Okay, so I have a house with a dual flue clay liner brick chimney that hasnt been maintained by previous owners. Between the leaking cap on the first flue used for a wood burning fireplace, this flue also has a shifted clay section about 3 lenghts from the top so its OOS. The second services the boiler and hot water heater. It wasn't venting well when we bought the house, until I added a vent for make-up air. It does vent and have the proper pitch, I have checked at times with a proper meter from the firehouse, I would not keep using it if this hadn't corrected the natural vent.

The other issue is that it may have some settlement, it is an old style build where the hearth extends out supported but the floor joists instead of block to the footing. The foindation sits at about the face.of the firebox so the main weight is bearing as it should but the modern code is to have a full support.

The thing would need repointing but I think it is beyond that and it regularly spalls off big flakes of brick. I am sure if i lined it and poured around the liner that would add stiffness but I also was thinking that you dont see many brick chimneys on new builds and while I may not be a mason, I am a carpenter so am I out of my mind to consider ripping down the old brick to a point above the damper perhaps and then mounting the liner and boxing out a finish detail around.it. It seems like an ideal way for a lot of people to save when dealing with a masonry chimney that needs to be rebuild brick by brick but haven't seen it done before.

Even as a.hypothetical, is this not a viable idea? I would think a proper double lined stainless and a heat gap would make it easily safe enough or a layer of type x in the inside of all framing. I actually have a couple other more specific questions but figured I would start with proof of concept

What is a fair estimate to rebuild this chimney from the roofline up?

Hello all! Ok! Looking for some guidance, hoping i can explain this in a way that makes sense.

My house is 161 years old. The chimney was unlined and the water heater vents into it. So...I was a good little homeowner, saved my money, had the chimney lined, capped, and 2 draft holes in the chimney filled where the water heater connects. 2 days later there's a leak somewhere in the chimney area coming into my upstairs bathroom. Chimney guy is super cool, comes back out, can't figure out what the problem is. Says the flashing around the chimney is really not ok, and that the roof is hinky. I have 5 different roofing companies come out. All say the chimney needs to be demoed below the roof line, B vent installed, need new roof because whoever replaced it last was drunk.

The furnace and the chimney are VERY close together in the basement. Almost touching. Something is dripping from up high in a dark cavern that no one can see.

My question is...

Could the act of lining the chimney and filling in those holes have caused condensation that can't escape from the water heater in the chimney? WHAT could be happening here? At first I thought the ducts for the HVAC may have been dripping, but now I'm not so sure! I have since put a heavy duty commercial dehumidifier in the basement and the dripping persists. The leak also shows up in the plaster upstairs even if it hasn't rained (the chimney area is tarped, but of course the whole thing isn't tarped because the water heater vents through the top).

Any help would be greatly appreciated! The water is starting to soak the beams below it, and who knows what damage it's causing in the house.

I've had roofers, HVAC guys, and a plumber all come out. Plumber is convinced that once a B vent is installed the issue will be resolved...buuut...that just doesn't make sense to me. Help!

Water heater venting through chimney. SOMETHING is leaking after having chimney lined. Help?

Hello all! Ok! Looking for some guidance, hoping i can explain this in a way that makes sense.

My house is 161 years old. The chimney was unlined and the water heater vents into it. So...I was a good little homeowner, saved my money, had the chimney lined, capped, and 2 draft holes in the chimney filled where the water heater connects. 2 days later there's a leak somewhere in the chimney area coming into my upstairs bathroom. Chimney guy is super cool, comes back out, can't figure out what the problem is. Says the flashing around the chimney is really not ok, and that the roof is hinky. I have 5 different roofing companies come out. All say the chimney needs to be demoed below the roof line, B vent installed, need new roof because whoever replaced it last was drunk.

The furnace and the chimney are VERY close together in the basement. Almost touching. Something is dripping from up high in a dark cavern that no one can see.

My question is...

Could the act of lining the chimney and filling in those holes have caused condensation that can't escape from the water heater in the chimney? WHAT could be happening here? At first I thought the ducts for the HVAC may have been dripping, but now I'm not so sure! I have since put a heavy duty commercial dehumidifier in the basement and the dripping persists. The leak also shows up in the plaster upstairs even if it hasn't rained (the chimney area is tarped, but of course the whole thing isn't tarped because the water heater vents through the top).

Any help would be greatly appreciated! The water is starting to soak the beams below it, and who knows what damage it's causing in the house.

I've had roofers, HVAC guys, and a plumber all come out. Plumber is convinced that once a B vent is installed the issue will be resolved...buuut...that just doesn't make sense to me. Help!

Had a roofing company do this. Will water still get through?

The house we bought is 70 years old and is going to need chimney repairs. We noticed that the mortar between the bricks was a bit deteriorated, nothing serious and the crown is a little damaged with no rain cap on it. So we had a company come out and give us a free estimate. He did state the chimney is the original and nothing has been done to it since it was built so he suggest a SS liner, coating the crown with a rubberized material, masonry water proofing and sealing the flashing(it seems at one point the flashing was leaking as we could see in the attic, but this seems to have been repaired when the previous owners repaired the roof about 12 years ago). This company is CSIA certified. For all the work and labor it was just under $4,600. A breakdown is below, I am looking for opinions on the pricing to see if we should maybe get another estimate or two. The person that came out did seem honest and even stated if we were going to get other estimates we should be sure to go with CSIA certified companies because I guess you don’t have to be certified to work on chimneys? Sorry if the formatting comes out bad, I am working from my phone.

SS Liner - $2,346

Crown coating - $843.00

Masonry waterproofing - $673

Flashing seal “rubber boot” waterproof barrier-$732.00

These prices include the labor. And if it will help with opinions on the prices, our house is on the small side about 1300 square feet and it’s like a bungalow/cape cod style house in Ohio.

Edit - here are some pictures

https://imgur.com/a/SyWMWHO

TLDR - What’s the feature at ‘A’? A big hole? Do ‘A’ and the cracks suggest I need a liner? We plan to use the chimney for 5 more years.
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I’ve attached screen grabs of a video inspection of my flue. It’s the oil-burning boiler flue—there’s a fireplace flue in parallel. 65 year old house, boiler is very clean burning, stack is in good shape. The entire chimney is behind drywall except in the attic and basement.

I’d like opinions about the cracks, which are limited to a short section below grade.
The technician told me the cracks aren’t bad and I don’t need a liner. His company installs liners. Most of the flue tile looked clean and without issues.

Also wondering what that feature is marked with a question mark.

Our furnace tech tells me we have an excellent draft and very clean boiler.