How to permantly close a brick chimney

[gygeneral]

I am taking out a gas free standing stove in my basement and replacing it with a direct vent fireplace. The old stove used a chimney liner and went through a traditional chimney. The new one will be vented through the wall and not use the chimney. I want to permantly close the old chimney and then frame and finish the wall in the basement. I looked on line and there are various thoughts out there. The one that I liked would be to seal the hole inside the house with styrofoam, caulk the space between the styrofoam and the pipe, and somehow cap the chimney outside but don't make it air tight as it needs to be able to breathe to let moisture escape. I live in an area where we do get winter and snow near Niagara Falls Ontario if that makes a difference.
What do you think???

 

[Ironhorse74]

Why cut another hole in your house? How come you don't use a masonry chimney adapter on the new fireplace? What brand is tne new fireplace?

 

[cgrutt]

I wouldn't make it permanent or at least something that could not be reasonably reversed for resale value or if you decide to use chimney again in future. I also agree with above post to utilize existing chimney for your new stove if possible. I have a direct vent fireplace in my house that has a full size faux chase and wish the builder had just put in a stove pipe to roof so I could easily switch it over to a wood burning stove...

 

[theoldwizard1]

If you want PERMANENT, remove the chimney.

 

[gygeneral]

My existing flue is not big enough to accomodate a 7" pipe for the new fireplace. The new one has a 7" outer and a 4" inner to take air from outside. I've always had issues with the old fireplace with reversing exhaust gas and would shut itself off.

 

[Ironhorse74]

My existing flue is not big enough to accomodate a 7" pipe for the new fireplace. The new one has a 7" outer and a 4" inner to take air from outside. I've always had issues with the old fireplace with reversing exhaust gas and would shut itself off.

A 4 X 7? Must be a HHT product. Heat n Glo or Quadrafire. The reason you had reversing issues is because the freestanding stove was a top vent that drew combustion air from the room. On a masonry conversion there is one 4" pipe up the center of the flue and it uses the remainder for intake air. A vertical install with a masonry conversion will generally perform better than an up and out direct vent install.

 

[LennyTheLizard]

I no longer needed my chimney, and we busted apart the top section of chimney low enough to roof over it. Replaced the plywood and re-shingled (was putting new roof on anyway).

If I ever changed my mind, would only need to have the chimney re-built from just under roof level to proper height above roof.

 

[gygeneral]

A 4 X 7? Must be a HHT product. Heat n Glo or Quadrafire. The reason you had reversing issues is because the freestanding stove was a top vent that drew combustion air from the room. On a masonry conversion there is one 4" pipe up the center of the flue and it uses the remainder for intake air. A vertical install with a masonry conversion will generally perform better than an up and out direct vent install.

Yep sometimes I had to open the windows to get the flue operating correctly. These days with tight houses there isn't enough air entering the house for the type of fireplaces that use room air for combustion. That's why I want to try a direct vent product.
Its no big deal to close the existing chimney because I have to frame new basement walls where I took the brick out. I just want to do it correctly. The next time I re-shingle the house I could take it down to below the roof line.

 

[a52-830]

I no longer needed my chimney, and we busted apart the top section of chimney low enough to roof over it. Replaced the plywood and re-shingled (was putting new roof on anyway).

my brother in law did the same thing, but he didnt stop until he was about 4 feet from the basement floor. it was in the center of the house. after he got the part above the roof off, he found that it was easy to stand on it, and dislodge each brick with a 3lb hammer. he slowly worked his way down. i think he cut a hole in the wall in the second and first floor to pass bricks out. somewhere in the basement it converted to blocks, but he still got a few courses of them out before it tightened up and he stopped. took all day.

he built a backyard fireplace out of the bricks. they were pretty clean of mortar. i dont know what happened to the flue pieces.

 

[rsanter]

if it was be u would use brick and mortar to fill in/patch the hole. then put a cap on the chimney that like you says will keep rain out but allow it to breath

seal with foam...ummm..no

bob

 

[Jackfre]

I tore down the old chimney when re-modeling the place. Removal allowed opening up the whole floor plan. It was a miserable job but he end results were good. In todays world, with our current equipment chimneys are excellent architectural devices, but terrible mechanical devices.