From: "Judy Pearlson"
To: buckley@rumford.com
Subject: Are these Rumford's.
Date: April 27, 2002

Mr. Buckley,

Hi! I wonder if you could provide some assistance. My husband and I are considering buying a 1740 home in Connecticut. During the home inspection, the engineer and chimney inspector found 4 fireplaces venting though an unlined central chimney. There is also a wood beam passing through the interior of the chimney. We keep getting conflicting information from chimney folks. Some tell us to leave old houses alone. Others tell us there is a fire hazard and we should not use any of these fireplaces until the chimney gets lined and the wood beam removed. Do you have any advice to offer?

Thank you in advance for your help.

Judy Pearlson
lishyp@mail.earthlink.net
410-239-8420

Judy,

Rather than leave old houses alone, treat them with the respect and understanding that comes with the realization that we are not so much owners as custodians. The fact that the house hasn't burned down in 262 years is a good sign.

It may be useful to read a modern code on chimney construction and clearances to combustibles. We have a draft of the 2002 International Residential Code on line at http://www.rumford.com/code/IRC01.html Generally code requires masonry chimney walls to be lined with a clay flue lining surrounded by solid masonry at least 4" thick and kept 2" away from combustible materials. As recently as ten years ago some codes allowed unlined masonry chimneys if they had 8" thick walls.

Historically many chimneys that were in contact with combustible framing (not permitted now) were safe because they were massive enough to never get hot enough to start a fire. The code really has a minimal chimney, perhaps with only one flue, in mind. Your big massive central chimney might be difficult to get up to the danger zone of 90 degrees F above ambient which is the never exceed limit built into all the codes and UL listings.

I can't tell from what you say if the wood beam is a problem or not. It wouldn't be permitted today but how close is it to the inside of a flue? Go slow, measure careful, do your research, maybe hire a chimney sweep not only for his opinion but for what he can see and tell you with his ChimScan - a little TV camera many sweeps have to look inside flues.

I'd be interested in more details and in what you find out. I know codes and old houses pretty well and one of my back-burner interests is to write a code friendly to safe old chimneys that might not meet modern codes. There are also lots of "fixes" and plenty of people who may stand to gain if you buy their fix. Unfortunately, some of these solutions can be expensive, unnecessary and may render your chimney useless or at least the flues too small to vent your fireplaces. And in this litigious society it's not in any of our interests to tell you it's perfectly safe.

I hope to hear back from you with more detail.

Best,
Jim Buckley

Thank you for the advice and such a prompt reply. We have had a chim cam assessment done and I am attaching a picture of the beam problem. Can you tell me why this would have been done in the construction of the house. Also, what do you think now that you can see what we are dealing with?

Judy Pearlson

Judy,

That's not a wood beam, I don't think. It looks like the remains of a brick wythe or partition that used to divide the chimney into two separate flues. It was common that these brick partitions were not tied into the chimney - they were basically just a stack of bricks - and often fell over. In fact the brickwork looks cleaner and newer and the mortar joints are different above the wythe which might indicate that the chimney was rebuilt from that point up.

My opinion should be confirmed. Get another Chim Cam view from underneath or the side to see if it's brick or wood. Look on the outside of the chimney for evidence of a wood beam running through the chimney. Take out a brick and look if necessary. But, if it's really not a wood beam, I would install a separate liner for each of the fireplaces and appliances you want to reconstitute.

There are many types of liner systems to choose from. Sometimes the most expensive are the ones that are the most irreversible or do the most damage to the original chimney. In the interest of "first doing no harm" perhaps simple inexpensive stainless steel liners would be sufficient. If combustible material is in contact with the outside of the chimney you may be advised to install insulated UL listed liner systems, but be careful. There are a lot of scams, scare tactics and useless products sold in the chimney biz.

Confirm the wythe/beam issue for me, find out if the chimney walls are 4" or 8" thick, where and if combustible framing is in contact with the outside of the chimney, get a couple of relining estimates and let me know what you find out.

Best,
Jim Buckley