# interior chimney questions



## fallrisk (Nov 17, 2011)

This is an active chimney in one of the rooms of my apartment. It used to be enclosed with drywall but the enclosure was as wide as 3 chimneys but that came down when i gutted the whole place. Originally i wanted to leave it exposed but after doing some research im not sure if that would be legal and the brick work looks like someone had a few drinks before they started the job. Im going to point it and then i would like to close it back up. Are there any codes i have to follow as far as enclosing it? (materials and such) Can i just frame around it and use drywall? if so, do i need to use fireproof drywall? I would love to knock the whole damn thing down and rebuild it properly, but im afraid thats not possible at the moment. Also its missing a proper cap at the top which is probably why the mortar is crumbling. Ill have to do something about that also. Any suggestions?


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## cleveman (Dec 17, 2011)

It looks great.

Why would you want to cover it up?

Put a cap on it to stop deterioration and search to find out how to tuckpoint it.

Wash it up a bit and you have a nice accent.


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## fallrisk (Nov 17, 2011)

The top few rows are made of different brick so it doesn't match the rest of the chimney. We'll see how it looks after i do the pointing and ill go from there.


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## cleveman (Dec 17, 2011)

Oh well, if there are a few brick that don't match, then you had better tear it down.

Now that you mention it, I can clearly see it.

It looks like it is out of plumb also, according to the stud to the side. I don't know what is keeping it in the air.

:wink:


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## fallrisk (Nov 17, 2011)

It's fairly straight, that's the insulation sticking out


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## plummen (Jan 10, 2010)

Looks neat to me anyway,of course the wife says i like old junk! :laughing:
Is it running anything besides a furnace or water heater?
Id put a chimney liner in there and call it good


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## fallrisk (Nov 17, 2011)

Chimney liner will get done eventually. For now I need to finish working inside and put a proper cap on it. I don't want to run a grinder with a masonary saw inside my house and using a hammer and chisel is getting to be a pita haha right now there are 2 water heaters and two gas boilers using this chimney


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## fallrisk (Nov 17, 2011)

Finally finished the pointing on the chimney. I think it came out pretty good for my first tuck pointing job so im going to leave it exposed. I tried sanding a few of the dirty/painted bricks and it comes out great but im going give it about a week to see if i like it the way it is now. Took about 30 pounds of mortar out of which half ended up on the floor :whistling2:
What should i use for the corner where the chimney is going to meet the drywall? moulding? Im going to use some fire rated cauld to close up the gap between the bricks and wall beam.


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## plummen (Jan 10, 2010)

Your brick chimney shouldnt get that hot


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## fallrisk (Nov 17, 2011)

There is no insulation behind the chimney that's why I want to air seal the gaps. Should I use something else rather than caulk? Foam?


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## cleveman (Dec 17, 2011)

Those are some awfully large joints you had to work with. Looks like a guy could have jointed them with a round point shovel.

Looks like you did a fine job with what you had to work with. If you wash down that wall, it will shine like a diamond in a goat's ass.


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## plummen (Jan 10, 2010)

fallrisk said:


> There is no insulation behind the chimney that's why I want to air seal the gaps. Should I use something else rather than caulk? Foam?


 Where is that water line behind chimney going?


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## fallrisk (Nov 17, 2011)

Rerouted the heat pipe to run behind instead of in front of the chimney. I'm pretty sure its against code but it should be nice and warm and not freeze up in the winter back there. The pipe in front is gone already. Any input on this plummen?


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## fallrisk (Nov 17, 2011)




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## plummen (Jan 10, 2010)

Looks nice all drywalled,did you insulate that pipe before you insulated/drywalled?
Im justworried about that pipe getting cold when the boiler/pump arent running keeping the water circulating.
Another thing that may or may not be an issue is the pipe condensating inside that exterior wall,thats why I was wondering if you insulated it with any rubitex or anything like that before insulating inside the wall


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## fallrisk (Nov 17, 2011)

The issue is that I can't get behind the chimney to insulate the wall or the pipe. I would like to insulate the space, I'm just trying to figure out how to go about it. What i could probably do is take out a brick or two, blow in some insulation behind the chimney and throw some insulation around the pipe. What do you think?


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## plummen (Jan 10, 2010)

I wonder if you could start a piece of foam insulation on the pipe outside of the wall then push it back behind there on the pipe?


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## fallrisk (Nov 17, 2011)

I thought about that but i think the hole the pipe is going through is too small.I really want to insulate the whole space not just the pipe...


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