Demolishing an earthquake damaged brick chimney. Installing rebar for an engineered brick chimney. Laying brick on a reinforced brick chimney. Time Lapse video constructing a brick, or masonry chimney.
Wow, shows how few real fireplaces we build down here in south florida. I've been in the trade for over 40 years and have also built several fireplaces myself, but this is the first I've seen of the veneer being installed before the firebox. I've never so much as even heard of it being done that way before. It looks a like it's a lot slower more difficult having to work around the face brick that way. Yet being in the trade as long as I have, I find there's always something new I can learn. Nice work.
Hey, thanks just the video I was looking for! My father was a consumate brick- mason, & I used to work w/ him as a teen. We've built many fireplaces, but I never really paid attention to the details, as I was young & u know the rest. I was mainly a laborer. But, now that I'm grown & have a hearth that needs to be rebuilt, I'm wishing I'd paid more attention! This video helped refresh my memory! Thanks!
That was the coolest video ever I have a house built in the late 70's with full fireplace with brick on the outside pretty standard for the time as im in Colorado. I was wondering how much heat I could put on these bricks and how many layers their were near hearth area and how much radiate head it puts out since my wood shed is on side of house and only about 6 inches away from brick. Not that I think will catch on fire from heat but I have raised rabbits in shed wondered how much heat they got. This didn't go into enough detail but was suprisely satisfying to watch craftsman do their work
Damn that must have cost a fortune to build it that way and omg it must have taking forever to build , I’m not saying they did anything bad or wrong just different and more time consuming than I’ve ever seen and I’ve built and worked on many chimneys. Good job I’m sure as most chimneys it will last longer than the house itself lol
Ppl keep asking about the cost of this job.. I can tell you that the cost of chimney construction can vary greatly depending on location. I can tell you that a project like this in the Boston area could run between $27,000- $35,000. In parts of the country where the cost of living is much lower like parts of Pennsylvania maybe $17k-$21k. This job was done on the west coast, they just named the company after Boston. I'm from massachusetts and we are somewhat known for our brickwork and bricklaying style. Most masonry companies in my area charge $1,200-$2,000 per day labor only. Although I did work for a company out of west Hartford , Ct that charged $2,460.00 per day just for labor and not including materials. The worst part is they were the absolute worst bricklayers I'd ever seen in my life. They were more chimney guys then actual masons. Their joints varied in size constantly and it wasn't uncommon to see 1inch bed joints and bigger head joints and they didn't slick or tool the joints, instead they scraped the joint with back of the trowel handle! Lol. They figured they would sell the customer a water proofing application to seal up the rough joints anyway so who cares if they weren't properly tooled. Sad thing is they had so much work that they couldn't get it done.! They worked upper class communities and wealthy neighborhoods. Outside of a couple companies like this, Most chimney companies charge around $10-$13.00 per brick on a chimney when doing rebuilds etc. so if you have a small 200 brick rebuild you could expect to spend $2-$3k completed. The bigger the job the cheaper the cost per brick.
Can some tell me the difference and why's of say english and russian chimneys? Why russians build theirs right inside the home, but in the west one of the chimney's walls is on the outside? What advantages of which system?
Even though this say BostonBrick and Stone I believe the job was completed in CA because of a few factors. One the footing is barely below the surface. New England is a minimum of 4 feet. The firebox is just a box not the shape of a true fireplace. If the flu does not have some type of buffer (foam insulation) against the grout they poured it will all crack due to expansion. They also re used the original brick. For CA this is typical and accepted but anywhere else that has winters it would not last.
@reciprocation23 They from Los Angeles, not Boston. They probably got about $17,000 for the job. Their workmanship is excellent, but they charge big time for it.
As far as cost goes it would have been way cheaper to bust the top part of the chimney down below the roof line, then seal off the chimney, then build the roof over what was left of the fireplace. The bottom half could have been left as is for decoration. I have seen it done many times to old irreparable fireplaces that the home owners did not want to sink that much money into. If they did that though we would not have this cool video though!
Agree with Ross Bone. Through-flashing should be installed during masonry construction--not after. If you get sustained or driving rain, brick will leak.
You are obviously not in the building trade because although we do things differently over here in England the flashing is always the last thing to go around a stack.
I would have built the firebox before I crossed the opening of the brick facing inside. I didn't see a damper unless it is the type placed at top of chimney.
Fantastic work by BostonBrickandStone. True tradesmen. But looks like an insurance scam to me, I suspect that the original chimney could have been salvaged and reinforced for 1/4 the cost. Homeowner waited for a mild seismic tremor to claim his new chimney.
my dad was a builder he layed brick around flue liners 1inch air gap then face brick on exterior but i am impressed with rebar and concrete around liner wonder about expansion especially in flue fire