Fireplace chimney inspection #2

 I met with another fireplace company today for a quote on replacing the chimney stack and venting the pipe underneath.  He discovered that the flue pipe that goes up to the chimney has openings at the seams, which is a problem.  He gave me a quote for a whole new flue, chimney stack, and the pipe underneath - $2000.  Which is $500 more than the first company wanted for JUST the chimney/flashing.  So since it's needed for inspection, we're going ahead with it.  He said it'd take a few weeks for the parts to come in.  

The plumbers are coming out on Monday to finish patching the underbelly.  I dropped the black tape off for them.  Hopefully there's enough!  

Then the regrading, culvert, and grass seeding will be done mid-February.  So hopefully we'll have everything done by the end of February for the inspection.  

Then we've got to work on the inside!

Underbelly, Deck, and Other Things!

Our order of underbelly material and tape came by Friday and we dropped Max off with my mom for the day before heading to the house.  My dad and his helper arrived shortly thereafter, as did our backup HVAC guy, who took a look at our furnace and at the pipe that's under the fireplace.  He wasn't able to tell what it went to and suggested calling the manufacturer to see if they could tell us what it is for. 

After that, I went back to work on the underbelly material.  Hubby measured for all the holes and started helping dad's helper dig a trench for the water that had pooled and was in the way of the deck.  I cut the material from the roll we got and helped dig the trench too.  Then dad needed more gas for the generator, so we took a break and drove into town to get the gas and a new pair of rubber boots for me because the sole of my boot was coming off in the mud!  

 

We got back and patched up the big holes that we could with the time we had left.  The deck itself was completed.  Now it just needs stairs, and rails, and a gate...to come!

On Monday, I got in touch with Fleetwood and learned that the pipe actually DOES go to the fireplace.  Apparently, they vented it through the floor as well as the chimney back when it was built, but they no longer do that anymore.  We also got a picture of the chimney while Dad was there and the movers said it looks no good, so I'm having a chimney company (different from the last one) come out on Sunday and see if they can help us replace the chimney stack, rubber boot, and vent the pipe under the house.  

On the grading side of things, I got some other quotes that turned out to be higher than our original guy so we're going to have him regrade the front, put a culvert in under the driveway, place rocks on the hillside to prevent erosion, and put grass seed down once we get into February.

 The plumbers are going to come back out and patch the rest of the holes underneath for us.  Maybe they'll also install the new faucets I got for the master bath and laundry room sink?

The natural drainage ditch out back

In the meantime, I've been coming up with ideas for the outside - walkways, the drainage ditch, the driveway...exciting!
  

Patching up the Underbelly Part 1

 On Saturday, hubby and I dropped Max off with my sister & her hubby and headed out to the house with what little underbelly tape and black duct tape we had.  We found LOTS of holes from where the plumber cut open the underbelly material to replumb the house.  We ended up patching the little holes and leaving the big ones for later.  We ran out of tape and realized we were going to need to order more material.

Our order of underbelly material and tape should be arriving this Friday, in time for us to go back out there and work on it Saturday.  It's also not supposed to rain then but be really cold.  Thankfully, it's decently warm under the house.  There was also a lot of trash (and cigarette butts, which I was not happy to find!) under there that I would like cleaned out.  Some of the insulation fell out and got wet, too. 

We are trying to figure out the grading issue in the front of the house.  I'm also checking to see if our backup HVAC guy can help us get the furnace vent pipe taken care of.  Then I just need Dad to work on the deck this weekend, and a picture of the chimney flashing.