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Supporting the Chimney Flues and Hearth

Bob and the mason discuss the chimney. Pointing out that we have two flues, one for the boiler in the basement and one for the wood stove. By code, the ceramic flue liners need to be surround by at least four inches of solid masonry (the chimney). The mason tells Bob how they are going to attach the pipe from the wood stove to the flue. Then the mason shows how easy it is to cut a four-inch cement block with a hydraulic jack. The mason and Bob then discuss the supports for the hearth, including a concrete table and a blue stone finishing floor.

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Supporting the Chimney Flues and Hearth

computer-generated transcript - may not be 100% accurate

" Well, I don't wanna interrupt you too much but let's talk a little bit about how the chimney is built. Why do we have 2 flutes?"

" One if for the boiler and one is for the wood stove."

" Okay."

" And the furnace, which you'll be down on the basement."

" Right."

" Only requires a small fluid. Is it 8 inch square?"

" Yup, 8x8 and the wood stove's 8 by 12."

" Okay. Now does this ceramic flute liner always have to be surrounded in masonry?"

" Yup, it has surrounded by 4 inches of solid masonry."

" At least 4 inches."

" Right, or more."

" Or more."

" If you could you could've used bigger blocks."

" Right. That's right."

" But it has to be solid so it can't be hollow."

" Right. It has to be at least 4 inches."

" Right. And the question I have is when you get ready to connect your wood burning stove with a chimney like this, how does it work? How do you do it?"

" We're gonna do that right now. This is a clay assemble, and it's round. So it's just a piece of round."

" The same playful material."

" But it's round."

" That's been cut."

" To receive the wood stove pipe."

" Okay."

" And that goes right here."

" Okay."

" I have to watch you do that."

" Okay."

" Oh I see, okay. So you're just gonna butter it up and that'll take it up against the side of the flute pipes."

" Right."

" Don't you need to cut a hole in there first?"

" We're gonna do that afterwards 'cause it just makes it easier. Take a re-rod and we punch this through with a hammer and a re-rod."

" This is a piece of reinforcing rod."

" Yup. You can use a drill, you could use whatever you have."

" After you've already put it in place. Now you're gonna continue laying up for each concrete block all the way up until you reach our ceiling in here. And then you're gonna push it over to red brick?"

" Red brick through the roof."

" Okay. Hey just one quick question. How do you cut solid 4 inch concrete blocks?"

" We use the press. It's basically a hydraulic jack and we just press 'em."

" Let's take a look."

" Pretty simple. We just put it in, a couple of pumps, and it breaks it right into half or whatever size you need."

" Yeah. I suppose you could rent a press but how else could you cut blocks like these?"

" Just a hammer and chisel. You could score it out with your chisel and then."

" Then give it a bang?"

" Yup, that's how a lot of people do it."

" Okay. Now John, you're putting in those cut pieces around the symbol. Next question is, how much longer will it take you to get up through the roof?"

" About 2-1/2 to 3 hours."

" Okay. John, that really looks very nice and of course, we're leaving this entire chimney closed. So that we're looking at joint works that wants to be pretty high quality. Now, do we need to worry about washing this down?"

" You can give it a light bath, just muriatic acid."

" Yeah it just cleans everything. Clean it all up and give it some uniformity."

" Now you've gotten a head start on building the base for our harps here, right?"

" Yup! These are block [unk] and then we have a concrete slab that goes across it."

" And it's almost like creating a concrete cable."

" Right, exactly."

" I noticed you're using 2 different kinds of blocks. What's the story?"

" We ran out of the 8-inch blocks so we're just using up what we have on site."

" Okay. So you have the left 8-inch blocks from the foundation that we're using, and now you're using the left over 4-inch blocks from the chimney. "

" Yup."

" After all this is just a base. It's not gonna be visible. Why do you need so much support here?"

" Well basically to hold off the concrete because it's gonna weigh quite a bit."

" You're pouring 6 inches worth of concrete in here for our harp."

" Right."

" Yeah, that'll weigh a ton. So the idea is that we've got all these support and this plywood goes right on top of it."

" Yup."

" And it's flushed with the tops of our 2 concrete block walls."

" Right."

" So that when you pour all this concrete you can come in the cross base, knock down those legs, and get rid of all the wood."

" Right."

" And that slab will be supported by these type of blocks here."

" 2 walls."

" Now will it be rigid enough?"

" Yup, oh yeah."

" You've gotta put in some reinforcement rod, right?"

" Yup, we have reinforcement rods thats put in there."

" So these just get laid in with the slab."

" Yup, that's right."

" What everybody calls rebar or re-rod. Tell me about the mix?"

" It's Portland cement."

" Uh huh."

" And we mix a half bag at a time because there's so much."

" So there's a half a bag of Portland cement. How much sand is in there?"

" There's 16 sands."

" 16 shovel-fulls?"

" Shovel-fulls."

" To a half a bag?"

" To a half a bag."

" Everybody's got his own special way, right."

" I get that."

" Right."

" Then water's just, again, to feel?"

" Right."

" So you see it just where you want it?"

" Right. You don't want it too wet 'cause that will weaken it."

" Okay."

" Just add a little more, and then we're ready to go."

" Yup. So that's one batch and it looks to me like you're gonna have to make some other 2 or 3, right?"

" Probably 3."

" Probably 3. Okay so we just laid down the rebar about a foot apart."

" Yeah, that's good."

" And we're ready to pour."

" Yeah."

" It looks good. Now you're gonna have to keep this down by what, 2 inches?"

" 2 inches."

" Yeah, and the reason for that is if we're fusing a blue stone, which is a native stone, for the actual finish floor on the harp and it'll end up being flushed with our wooden floor inside the room."

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