I need Chimney help/advice/referrals desperately

I scheduled what should have been a cleaning for $69, well after a few minutes they told me that couldn't even clean it because its on the verge of collapse.

Apparently there was never a cap and there is damage all the way down. They want to put in a Stainless Steel liner - the estimate was $3000 !!!!- does this sound right?? They said its too far gone to just do the top part that sticks out of the house.

I am in shock and of course we didn't plan for this. I know some companies ( this company was referred by my oil company ) will try to scare you into spending but I also don't want to risk this thing caving in!!!

Does this sound right to you?
Can you tell me what you know about chimney work? Who you've used and what is should cost?

TIA

Re: I need Chimney help/advice/referrals desperately

we had a gas converstion done in our house 3 years ago and we too needed a sleeve put in the chimney. I think it costs us $1500 but we didnt need to have any brick work done.

My sister and BIL just had thier fireplace chimney redone. i can get the name and number from her is you want...so you can get another estimate.

Re: I need Chimney help/advice/referrals desperately

Lisa,

Yes, .....I'd like a couple more estimates

thank you,
Kerri

Re: I need Chimney help/advice/referrals desperately

We had a new aluminium sleeve put in when we had our gas conversion done last year. They also reset all of the brick at the top of the stack. We used Burner King. I can't say the exact price of the sleeve, but it was definitley less than $3K, including the brickwork because our entire conversion (plus plumbing for a gas stove, installing a radiator where there previously was none and natural gas to our deck for bbq's) was $6K.

Re: I need Chimney help/advice/referrals desperately

get a few more opinions before you do anything! we had people come over and tell us all sorts of unnecessary crap for our chimney. we got everything from "it's in great shape" to "you'll need about $2500 of work done".

don't let them scare you into thinking you need to get something done. you may need to address the issue, you may not, but don't go with the first person who says something - shop around!

ETA: can't help you with companies as we are in jersey...

Message edited 4/21/2006 11:01:18 AM.

Re: I need Chimney help/advice/referrals desperately

Thanks Odonnell,
I tried Burner King but unfortunately they only serve Suffolk

Thanks anon,

I will make to get a few more inspections before making any decisions

Re: I need Chimney help/advice/referrals desperately

FM!

Re: I need Chimney help/advice/referrals desperately

we need to extend our chimney...and were told that it was $100 per foot (but that was with a good fireplace in place)


I'll have to ask DH who came to clean ours (and told us that we needed to extend), b/c we called b/c we were having smoke issues, he told us it was b/c our chimney was too short, but gave us a solution (put the grate up higher) and it works fine until we decide to do anything...I thought that was nice of them.

Message edited 4/22/2006 11:23:55 PM.