Wood Stove Chimney

One of the most fascinating aspects of heating with wood is the chimney. Wood stove enthusiasts will talk excitedly about the ideal location of a chimney, or about the ideal height, width, wall thickness, and so on. Of course, there are standards recommended by the National Fire Protection Association, regional building authorities, and local (usually county) building inspectors. But these standards allow considerable leeway as to the choice of materials, location of the chimney in the house, chimney size (diameter), and other factors. It is just this great lat­itude that makes for such interesting conversation among wood-burners.

1. Houses With Chimneys

Many Americans are fortunate enough to own a house with a chimney or fireplace already there, as a quick glance at 30 or so houses along the road will confirm. In fact, once you are addicted to wood stoves and chim­neys, the types of chimney caps in use and the location and size of chimneys become an endless fascination. What is more stately than a large, two-story house with a massive brick chimney (complete with elaborate rain-cap) towering above the crest of the roof at each end of the house? See Fig. 1.

Evidently, woodstove addicts are not the only ones who feel this way, since the value of a house on the local real estate market is considerably enhanced by one fireplace and even more so by two. For two years, my wife and I rented a large Southern mansion which had four fireplaces—one in the formal living room, one in the dining room, and one in each of two bedrooms. We were the envy of everybody that visited us.

2. Houses Without Chimneys

Even though chimneys are really a kind of status sym­bol, more and more new houses are being built without them. The added expense of a chimney or fireplace can be exorbitant. Most modern heating equipment does not require a chimney, but simply a pipe, and electric base­board heaters do not even need that. So it is not uncom­mon any more to see houses without a sign of a chimney. If owners of such houses happen to become interested in wood stoves, for whatever reason, they must have a chimney built.

Build It Yourself or Have It Built?

If you are an experienced bricklayer, either amateur or professional, you will want to build your chimney your­self and build it right. The rest of us will have to hire a bricklayer, because a chimney is not the sort of thing a novice should attempt to build. For one thing, it is too complicated, and for another, its proper construction is too critical a factor in the safety of your life and posses­sions to entrust to an inexperienced person.

Nevertheless, it is important for the experienced brick­layer, as well as the homeowner, to know the correct way to build a safe chimney. It is important for the bricklayer because he may not be familiar with all the refined methods of building a chimney and with the newest building codes; it is important for the homeowner because he must find a masonry contractor who will build the chimney to rigid specifications—the home­owner's specifications, not the contractor's. Unfortu­nately, many modern bricklayers will cut corners in the absence of special guidance, and this practice may ulti­mately, if not initially, make your chimney a potential fire hazard.

Working with a contractor can be a trying experience; that is why it is essential to agree with him on exact specifications before he starts building. Many people are easily intimidated by contractors, but remember it is your money and your chimney, not the bricklayer's, and the person who pays the piper calls the tune. In the case of a chimney, it is a very serious tune.

Tags: wood burning stoves, wood stove chimney, woodstove chimney