Chimney Sweeps

YJJPWrangler

YJJPWrangler

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jul 19, 2005
Location
Charlotte
Anybody have contacts with chimney sweeps? I have dual fireplaces that have gas logs in them currently. I want to convert back to wood burning.

Had a chimney company out just now and they are saying both chimneys need to be relined, new cap etc.

Rough price was 15k for both. $7500 for the downstairs and $6500 for the upstairs. I also have a free standing wood stove that could possibly be fit into the downstairs fireplace for around $4500.
 
When we were shopping for a new woodstove they told us the same deal. We needed new double wall pipe, etc. without ever looking. The install was more than the stove! My chimney is a stove pipe in a liner in a 4x3 boulder and cement chimney. I clean and inspect at least once a year. I found a way to buy the woodstove direct and just installed it myself. Do you trust your gut? How long ago did they burn wood? A lot of this is just .GOV bullshit
 
YJJPWrangler said:
Anybody have contacts with chimney sweeps? I have dual fireplaces that have gas logs in them currently. I want to convert back to wood burning.

Had a chimney company out just now and they are saying both chimneys need to be relined, new cap etc.

Rough price was 15k for both. $7500 for the downstairs and $6500 for the upstairs. I also have a free standing wood stove that could possibly be fit into the downstairs fireplace for around $4500.
Click to expand...
It's as much about up sale as it is new specs for wood burning stoves.
I am guessing you have tile masonry in the brick chimney. Flow for tiles as I understand is different then the new fangled double wall pipe and the slinky pipe. The modern stoves have all sorts of flow parameters to meet for "clean". Old flues don't pull the draft coefficient required to meet the new clean burn epa blah blah blah.....
So the real deal company's want to keep certs and insurance and all the red tape the right color.......your old normal isn't up to spec. Here's your estimate.

Done a bunch of personal research.

My advice is diy, and keep your trap shut.
 
We used these guys last year and were pleased with the service.

We also used another guy many years ago when we were in Coulwood, but I can't find his number. His name was Doug and the company was A1 Chimney sweep or something like that.

We also had Clean Sweep Chimney Sweep from Gastonia come earlier in the year, and were not impressed. They talked crap about their competitors, and then said they had never seen a woodstove pipe setup like ours and that it wasn't to code and they couldn't service it.
 
Yup, we have terracotta(clay) linings. Probably like millions of other homes around the country built in the 80s. I have an OLD freestanding wood stove that could probably heat the whole house if I needed it to.

The guys I used said most free standing stoves cant be installed by law....but he would make an exception since it would go in the basement with concrete floors etc.

14k is definitely out of the budget and I think that most people that wood burn clean their chimneys as needed. The guys did state that the chimneys were nice and clean because there isn't a cap on top. I think my plan is to build a small fire and check flow/CO2/fumes etc throughout the house.

We bought the house in 2016, gas logs were already installed. Couldn't tell you when the last time it was wood burning. The service guys were amazed at the width/depth of the fireplaces and how tall the smoke chambers were in both.

I will most likely get a cap installed just to keep rain and chimney swifts out of it. A new cap is roughly $750.

Not trying to heat the house with the fireplace. I just want it workable if power goes out/snowing/cold days etc.
 
I have two fireplaces. 1 on the main floor, 1 in the basement. The one in the basement is a bare opening with fire brick lining the back and side walls of the fire box. The one on the main floor has an insert and it appears that the previous owners just piped in the gas logs inside the insert.

Hope to leave the insert on the main floor and leave the basement open for now with an option to install the woodstove in the future.
 
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