2005 Flue Liner Installation

we recently had some brick-work done to our chimney. after the work had started, we discovered the company we chose were crooks, and the job which initially was a $1k job was quickly moving north of $2k. so we fired the idiots at the earliest opportune moment. we were still left w/ one flue (for the furnace/water-heater) sans flue liner.

so we hired another guy to fit a new liner, but it was beyond his abilities, so he took a loss on the deal and suggested we find someone w/ more experience. no money out of my pocket, so no biggie, but still a PITA as we still have a liner-less chimney and cold weather is fast approaching.

so i did some research and decided to DIY the flue-liner. but, of course, our flue was no ordinary flue, so i had to do my homework.

the total flue length from the basement to the top of the chimney is ~40'. that includes three (yes, 3!) ~90° dog-legs thru which the liner needs to be threaded. an appropriate length flue-liner costs upwards of $400 on the internet...that's just for materials, but i found one NOS/NIB on ebay with a BIN of $30...can you say "SOLD!"? i had to buy some assorted ductwork bits and stuff to get going, but we still saved alot of moolah.

when we started peeling the old flue liner out, we found a mess. it had deteriorated to the point where the metal would crumble to the touch. and it wasnt even installed correctly! there were actually two sections of flue-liner, but they werent even connected - with like a ~2' gap right in the middle of the chimney's length. our furnace is an older ~75% efficiency model, which crank out alot of moisture in their exhaust. literally gallons of condensation, getting dumped right into our brickwork FOR YEARS - this is BAD! and the old flue-cap wasnt sealed to keep moisture out, either. so we had moisture coming at us from all angles - no wonder the brickwork was crumbling before our eyes.

so, with all that in mind, we set out to install the new flue liner. i even got the ol' lady on the roof! we're happy now knowing that it's done RIGHT (even better than i would expect a typical contractor to do) and we managed to save a few shekels in the process.


Threading 40' of heavy-duty flue liner from the roof to the basement means EVERYONE has to pitch in! Even the ol' lady...wearing her PJs no less!


Here's a random picture i found showing what it looks like when feeding in the liner from top-side. We were too busy during this phase to even think of taking pics of our project!


After alot of heave-and-ho, we got the liner pulled all the way to the basement. It gets cold at night, so we've rigged up some temporary connections. Work resumes tomorrow!


Now the basement connections are buttoned up properly...we're talking EFFICIENT!


And we've fabricated and attached a proper WATER-RESISTANT flue-cap...just call me Ralph-the-Riveter!