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Recommend a chimney/fireplace repair company?
10/16/2013 12:21 PM by John M
Bill has a question:
Anyone have any experience/recommendations for local chimney/fireplace repair companies? I have 4 non-working fireplaces in my house that have some serious flaking/dusting/crumbling going on. As these seem to be common in Church Hill homes, wondering if others have had similar work done & any companies to consider/avoid?
TAGGED: question
For just having the chimney swept, I’ve used Neat Sweep in the past. Phone is 232-1682.
However, I note that you said they are non-working fireplaces. There’s a liner that can be pumped in to line the chimney. Here is the website http://www.goldenflue.com/ and it says on the site that it is UL listed, which gives it some further recommendation. I seem to recall that it isn’t cheap, but it’s really solid. At some point I’ve seen either their truck up here in Church Hill, or something similar. Somewhere down on East Grace a couple of years ago, sorry I can’t be more specific.
The old time method of flue lining involves a good brick layer and putting terra cotta liners in the chimney. You can also use stainless steel to line the chimney.
I used Mike Giles / Eurotech Chimney Restoration with good results two years ago. He had to rebuild almost all of my firebox. I then found an additional crack in one of the original bricks, and he came back, removed it all and rebuilt the whole firebox again at no extra cost. If you’re interested …
Main: (614) 345-2367
Cell: (804) 641-2898
We had London Sweeps reline our furnace flue last year, and they came back and installed a damper / repaired the fire box / repaired the old gas coal setup of our front room fireplace. They did good work!
I’ll second Eurotech. They put in a liner and woodstove for me six years ago and come out to check on it every two years.
Thanks everyone, I’ve reached out to 4 companies, including those mentioned above. One other question – with the mentions of a woodstove & repair of gas coal setup – does that mean you’ve been able to get your FP’s to a point they are functional/usable? I just assumed that since they are so small (I’m told back in the day they were coal burning) that they were now decorative only, but would be great to have a nice heat source during the winters (of course based on how much it will cost). Anybody have the very small fireboxes that they’ve gotten functional?
Eurotech charges $89 just to come out & give an estimate. Yeah – good luck with that. What a crock.
I have four small old coal burning fireplaces with the cast iron surrounds. They had been concreted shut and I recently reopened them. I went to the Victorian Fireplace Shop on the Boulevard and spoke with them this weekend. They carry a cast iron gas burning insert that’s 80% efficient as an actual heat source. However, it costs $3500 plus the cost of the fireplace/chimney repairs. They carry several different styles and options that are less expensive, however they are all less efficient as heat sources. I’m continuing to research options. Since we’re in similar situations I’d love to hear what you’ve decided to do. Feel free to email me at boz.boschen at gmail.com
Boz – thanks for the note. Glad to know I’m not the only one looking into this. Funny you mention the place on Boulevard as I’d just seen an insert from them in the val-pak last week & was planning to swing by.
I have 3 chimney repair companies coming out to give me estimates over the next 3 weeks, and plan to go by the Blvd store as well. Obviously it’s all dependent on cost, which hopefully I have a better idea of shortly. I’ll be sure to email you once that’s the case & then maybe we could compare notes?
I would not recommend Eurotech. I had a very poor experience with them. This “gentleman” uses non-english speaking laborers as grunts to climb the ladders and clean the flues. Well, after they said they were finished, I asked the owner about the condition of the flue that the boiler is vented. He stated that there was no boiler flue just the fireplace. Here’s the frustration…he never went up the ladder to inspect the chimney yet, he was able to speak with such certainty about the chimney. I told him that there was and is 2 flues inside the chimney and I expected both of them to be cleaned. After arguing with me…he asked his laborer to go up and inspect the chimney..there were two flues. I find the owner to be arrogant, argumentative, and somewhat lazy. I’ll never use them again.
Laura – thanks for the feedback on Eurotech. I decided against having them come out just based on a few phone interactions. They took forever to get back to me, & then said they would charge me $89 just for the PRIVILEGE of having them come out to write an estimate. When I questioned this – the extremely nice (sarcasm) lady on the phone said “We don’t do anything for free”. Hmm – last time I checked – providing estimates is a cost of doing business – and if you do it well, at a competitive price, you’ll win the bid.
I have Castle Chimney, Golden Flue, & London Sweeps coming out over the next 3 weeks. I’ll be sure to update this post at that time in case others are in the same boat. But I agree – avoid Eurotech!
Hey Bill, I thought I’d check back and see where you netted out. Feel free to email me or post here. Trying to get ours sorted by Christmas. Thanks!
Sorry for the lack of update. My roof has started to leak, so that’s unfortunately taken priority. Once I get that under control, I’ll be back on this one. Un-related – if anyone has recommendations on roofers, I could use them. Skylight seems to be leaking & this rain has got me feeling like a lifeboat.
I just wanted to update this once & it seems for all. I had Castle, Golden Flue & London Sweeps out. Golden Flue came out & then never gave me a quote. Castle came out & gave me a quote, which was WAAY out of my price range. London Sweeps came out & gave me a quote which I felt was reasonable.
I told London Sweeps we’d like to move forward with their proposal, multiple times, and, well, that was 2 months ago. Eric at LS seems like a swell guy, but he’s either too busy, or not organized enough to handle business.
So with that, we’re moving on to other projects. I wish the rest of you better luck than we’ve had. If anyone comes across other companies, please update.