Fireplace Fun

Since we got rid of the wood stoves it was logical to get a Masonry Contractor over to quote some work and sweep the chimney.  When the contractor pulled the flange/hook up thing from the flue we were greated with THIS 

Yeah... that's what happens when you don't know how to work a wood stove and you burn cords and cords of wood and never have your chimney swept.....  Gross... and Dangerous!   Things got more interesting though....

First there was the revelation that the chimney was in fact lined with Flue tiles (SCORE) which were in good shape and thankfully mean we won't need to reline the chimney which can be quite costly.  

The down side is that the cap at the top of our chimney is not exactly in good shape.  This is something the home inspector let us know from the get go.  It's covered in tar and has cracked quite a bit.  For those of you who don't know, Tar is not a good weatherproofing material!  Tar is OK for a "oh crap a branch landed on my roof and its going to rain tomorrow" fix but it is not a lasting one.  Tar oxidizes in the sun and breaks down fairly rapidly which leads to leaks and bigger issues down the line.  Moral of the story?  STOP BEING SO DAMN CHEAP AND FIX IT RIGHT THE FIRST TIME SO WE DON'T NEED TO FIX IT AGAIN.  The bricks are also beginning to spall (that's when the face of the brick breaks away and exposes the softer and more porous interior) and some repointing is needed.  All this means we are looking at either a new cap and some repointing or a full rebuild from the roofline up.  Considering the flashing at the base of the roof is excessively high and frankly kind of questionable we are leaning towards a full rebuild.  The cost difference we were quoted was $700 so its kind of silly not to do it. 

For the moment though we are fine as the chimney itself is in good shape and isn't going to come crashing down.    Before we start any fires though we are going to have the lintels in the kitchen and basement bricked back in and sealed up as well as having the firebox itself repointed.  Those things are cheap and easy fixes thankfully.  

All that said... it wouldn't be a Bungle Oh No! post without some DIY action.  That brings us to the fireplace damper.  When the wood stove was installed it was removed.  Fortunately for us the previous owner kept the parts...well most of them. 

The parts were stored in an old Black and Decker hedge trimmer box.  Upon first inspection we were a bit worried as there were only a couple parts to be found. 

There was the damper flap, a washer, a cotter pin, an articulated arm with a weight and a mount of some sort.  Looking at all the pieces we were a bit confused as to how we were going to be able to turn them into a working damper. 

Fortunately for us the lack of cleaning also left us with some clues.  As you can see the outline for the bracket was pretty clear and helped us determine the orientation for the bracket.  Unfortunately though the bolts for the bracket were nowhere to be found.  After a couple trips to the local ACE Hardware we found some coarse threaded 1/4in x 3/4in long flange bolts that worked for us.  The lower bolt did require some trimming with the Dremmel to keep it from bottoming out before it was tight against the bracket.  Simple enough though. 

Once that was in place it was just a matter of getting the flap into place.  The flap is larger than the actual opening so a bit of twisting and turning is needed to get it up behind the damper frame.  Once it place though it rests against some ears and pivots nicely. 

The articulated arm was the next item to get mounted.  The arm simply slides into the flange on the flap and hangs from that.  We were able to determine which side faced the bracket by again looking at the wear patterns. 

Once we got those parts into place we just played around with it until we figured out the correct orientation and then fit the arm to the bracket on the frame and secured it with a fresh cotter pin (we broke the original one). 

Once installed the damper, which has a "poker handle", has three settings.  Full open, partially open and closed.  You actuate the damper flap by using a fireplace poker (or your hands in our case) to pull or push the handle with the ring that hangs down.  Its a simple yet elegant solution. 

All done

Comments? Suggestions? Questions?