Question about old clay flue liners in historic homes

Had a 1920s flue liner in a St. Louis job crumble apart when I ran the brush through it last Tuesday. Anyone know a good mason who specializes in that era for a proper rebuild?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_robert28d ago

Oh man, that's the classic St. Louis special right there. You go in thinking you're just doing a simple sweep and suddenly you're the star of a chimney-shaped dust cloud. It's like those liners were held together with nothing but good intentions and 100-year-old mortar dust. I swear, half the chimneys in this town are just one stiff breeze away from becoming a pile of red clay in the fireplace. Good luck finding someone who doesn't just want to slap a metal liner in there and call it a day.

jones.blake5d ago

See, I gotta push back on that a bit. Yeah some old flues are rough, but a good mason can fix them right. My cousin had a place in Dogtown, the whole crown was cracked. They did a full rebuild with new brick and it's solid. Not every job needs a metal tube shoved down it. @xena873, tell your buddy to get a second opinion from someone who actually works with brick, not just a sweep.

xena87328d ago

My buddy had that exact @the_robert experience last winter, coughing up dust for a week.