Nice job. I’d love to come work with you for a few weeks to learn. I learn a ton from your videos. Thanks for taking the time to document your process.
Amazing how you built the cap without a form and make it look so perfect! I love the interactions with your son, lol. When I would have my son help do automotive work, he would complain that he already knew how to hold a light.
Great job,I like how your boys are working with you,I’m a retired mason/carpenter and Like you I had 2 boys after my daughter,they are a year apart and fight like crazy over stupid shit! But would always help me(either one is a mason today)But anyway you remind me of me a perfectionist! Masonry is all skill and problem solver and an artist! I enjoyed your blog,so many things I have done the same way,you try to pass down the knowledge you have to your kids but you wonder Are they even listening and remembering anything? We can only hope right? Comparing callas’s,the glove thing,having a favorite trowel! When you dropped it I felt your pain, I thought it fell into a sealed off void,but you got it back,and you must be a fan of Charlie Collison(I saw the Fitz-brick! And to run square up that long run was very impressive. Great video! Geo.
Thanks! I have been hearing that lately, of course I don’t think I sound like him. Lol A few years back I had a custom that worked with Ed Norton on some Broadway stuff and he said it was uncanny how I sounded like him. Him and his wife called me Ed for the entire project 🤣. That was the first time anyone ever mentioned it. Now a couple have mentioned it on RU-vid.
I have found your work to be most superb.. I enjoy the attention to detail. I would like to thank you for doing it right.. FINISHED product draws like a pencil.. Hit me up, we will make a million dollars.
Had no idea that there is that much to building a fire place and what all had to be done ✅ Would that a lot of learning the basics and codes to do it right and not burn the house down 😊
The code requires support on all sides of the flue with 4” of solid masonry. The air gap between the block and the flue cannot be more than the thickness of the flue liner (about 3/4” in this case) this is almost impossible to do with the dimensions of material. Just another grey area in the code that should be rewritten.
Thank you so much, I really appreciate that. My boys are super green! 😂🤣 Honestly they are a huge help though. I don’t force them to come work and they do a lot of physical work off camera, and when they’re caught up they can watch and learn. It’s a much different place than I came from.
You guys would not be allowed to work the way you do in the UK. Absolutely no health and safety the scaffolding is a real joke, still interesting though
We don’t hire out things like scaffolding, when I’m ready to jump planks I don’t have to call someone, I just do it. I also won’t pick up brick from my foot level from little towers of brick all day like you guys, it’s far to inefficient. But it is interesting to see different ways around the world. Health and safety is a joke, just one more way the government can get involved to protect the simpletons. I prefer Darwinism.
now.. im in Canada and a mason came to look at my chimney and 1. he said insulation on ss liners is a "U.S." thing, and 2. we'd have to remove my clay liner to install one, which is very expensive. (haven't received a quote yet). the only difference is he uses ICC rigid ss liners, not flex liners... any thoughts?
If you have a perfectly straight run, I'm sure the ridgid liner would be fine. If your chimney is within 2" of any framing members or combustible material, insulation is required, per manufacture installation instructions. This includes Canada. Removing the flue isn't usually too difficult if needed.
@@chadvaillancourt thanks.. the chimney is.. Weird.. the space in our house is at least 2'x2' but the chimney gets wider at the top for no reason.. hence the service call. It's a single flue with clay liner (8*8), but the bottom from the basement to the attic floor is 2 brick lengths square but then it get wider on the attic to 3*2.5 brick lengths on the roof.. nobody seems to know why, except maybe for esthetic value. When i went to clean it this year, the second clay piece fell out of place because there's so much room around it up there. He suggested taking it down to the proper size and rebuilding the top section at that size.. he felt i should keep the clay because he said the chimney was in good shape, but i was wondering if i should go ss
What mix do you use for the crown wash? By the way your videos have extremely helpful rebuilding and flashing my chimney. It’s very hard to find videos of someone who actually knows what they are doing and does it right! Thank you for taking the time to show AND explain steps you took. It took me years as a carpenter forman to understand how important the explanation and experience is to teach the next generation
Very happy to hear you were able to do your own projects! I’m glad my video were helpful. Sharing information is critical, it’s the only way to truly get better as a whole. I do use several methods for the crown wash, usually depends on convenience and what’s available at the moment. You can use premix concrete bags but you’ll have to add some fine materials, like premix mortar, sand or stone dust otherwise there’s too many rocks. Then you’ll have to add like 1/4-1/2 shovel of Portland per bag. My favorite method is just stone dust and Portland. I usually do a 1-3 ratio. You can add bonding agent and aggregate if you like. Mix it on the stiff side to avoid cracking when the water comes out.
was that third shaftway necessary or did you have it there to keep it symmetric. if that stove flue wasnt there, could you have tapered the chimney so you only had 1 shaftway going up for the fireplace flue.
The chimney can be tapered, to one side, or centered. The flue is required to be supported on all sides and can be supported by the outside brickwork, creating one shaft. Just be aware that it can look really awkward if you taper too much.
I would love to know/see how you removed the plywood sheets you used below the poured concrete fireplace base. how and when does this happen? thanks for the really interesting videos!! great kids too, it was fun watching you teach them.
I usually leave the plywood forms on for a couple days. I sent one of my boys down to remove them when I was building the smoke chamber. They come out easily after removing the screws that are holding the wood pieces below the plywood form. I’m really glad you liked the videos! Thanks!
@@chadvaillancourt but how do you access them? aren't they behind the cmu wall? (we have a house where the plywood was left in place and trying to figure out how to get it out without too much agony)
I only used the plywood forms on the cantilevered portion that is completely outside of the cmu wall, so it’s easily accessible from the basement. If you’re form goes into the wall you’ll have a tough time getting it out. I have definitely seen my share of people using plywood under the fireplace 😕.
@@chadvaillancourt What gauge of that stainless "expanded metal mesh" do you use as a form under the fire hearth area? and how deep did you have the concrete on top of that expanded metal? It does seem like a different method of forming the sub-base for the hearth -- but with the rebar I guess it is as strong as it needs to be to support the hearth?
It’s for a wood burning stove in the basement. People often want a back up heat source in my climate. The top hole is where the wood-stove is connected and the bottom hole is where everything is cleaned out after sweeping the chimney.
Ah, that was some great work. It’s awesome you have the kids out there learning. They will realize eventually how lucky they were that dad took his time to bring along and show them how man stuff works.
@@chadvaillancourt Chad --- I really REALLY need to re-watch the last episode again to understand HOW do those "tee" and the two sleeves get connected? I mean -- the whole "string" thing and band clamp How does that work? I did not sleep last night trying to figure it out in my head! LOL
