Handshake to you. Sorry buddy that your terra cotter is cracked. I agree that a stainless steel flue liner is the safest thing to invest in. With moisture getting into the crack and freeze thaw cycles the cracks will only get worse. I have just finishing installing a 8” insulated liner down my 13” chimney. Maybe at 66 years old I should have hired a sweep but I thought I could easily tackle the job. Wrong!!!! If I had to do that again I would hire a chimney sweep. The main problem I had was the transition between the terra cotter and the brick choked down to about 7” for about 5 rows of bricks. Spent three days inside that tight chimney standing on a cinder block with my arms above my head chipping away with a hammer drill and a air chisel. Every thing that was chipped out hit the top of my head. Had to wear a sandblasting hood to protect my eyes. Could only work a few minutes at a time because there wasn’t any fresh air and I got short of breath wearing a respirator. Very hard to see anything so worked mostly by feel. I think that is the hardest thing I’ve ever done. The front of my chest looks like I been fighting wildcats in a brier patch and my back looks worse. Arms scrapped up and knuckles all busted but I got her done. I’m telling you that to tell you this. It ain’t as easy as the videos say. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Ya that don’t sound like too much fun at all. We definitely going to get it installed . We going to wait till spring to get it done.
I tell you guys one thing, I’m blessed to have a heat pump for back up. But I was raised on wood heat, and it just don’t cut it for me. It’s just a different kind of heat for me I guess.
