Well well, look what came back to life! I have one chimney pot that was at my favorite local nursery. It was huge! Since I got it BH (before hosta), it is sitting off in a corner, but now will come in handy like Gesila says, to raise the viewing area. IF I can manage to get it on the dolly to its preferred location. I have two tall square clay flower pots turned upside down, and hosta in containers sitting on top of those. Even empty, those pots are heavy to move. Another source for old chimney pots would be an architectural salvage yard. They have everything. My wrought iron security door (removed and given away) is about to come home and might be used for climbing vines. It could be placed against a solid plain (bare) wall, and fixed to look like a gate in the wall where there is none. Gesila, how tall is your chain link fence? can you plant vines on it? Down here (and in Tuscany where I saw it first) I am putting star jasmine, evergreen in our zone, and it is already beginning to cover our 7 foot high chain link fence. It will be gorgeous once it fills in.

You have a back drafting problem. When the AC turns on it is pulling carbon monoxide into your unit. This is not good. There may be more to the problem then just this leaky joint. Someone needs to check this carefully. It seems strange to me the roofing contractor (who is not qualified to fix this in my opinion) does a shoddy fix, and the HVAC contractor (should know what to do?) does not want to touch the problem. Someone needs to go to buy double wall venting and replace all of the exhaust venting. You should be putting single wall venting against wood stud and applying mesh tape to it. It can cause a fire. You should also not be drilling screws into it with some type of fire rated sealer. Once that is done you need to turn the AC and hot water heater on at the same time and make sure all the exhaust gases are traveling up through the roof. If they are not, then you have more work to do. Go out and hire a contractor who is qualified fix this safely and give the bill to the condo management. A potential fire or CO poisoning is not worth a few hundred dollars. Here is a link that might be useful: Hot water heater back drafting

Restarting this discussion- does anyone have photos or additional info about venting 95% efficiency gas furnaces through a chimney flue? Got 2 bids for high eff furnaces. Both recommended Lennox G61MPV. One company said furnace will be vented via PVC out front wall of (brick) house- horizontal distance of about 10 feet. Would exit below hall window near front door. Another recommended venting through existing chimney flue. Chimney service just put steel cap on fireplace flue and confirmed there is room on furnace flue for 2 PVC pipes, but questioned why vent is vertical rather than horizontal. Also said PVC out chimney would be ugly on old house. Can anyone comment on venting through chimney versus wall?

Thank you Tigerdunes and Mike_home. Mike is right that I am trying to keep costs down. And a 2-stage 90KBTU new furnace will still be an improvement over what I have now. In answer to Tigerdunes' question about design temps - the contractor said it is based on maintaining 70 degrees at an outdoor temperature of 5 below zero. The contractor mentioned sealing the ducts by shooting something through them. He said it would offgas a smell like paint for about 20 minutes, which did not appeal to me. I don't want to be breathing a chemical spreading throughout my house. But perhaps I need more information. Can you give me a little insight into the sealing process? Is this a worthwhile option? A filter cabinet - the furnace is located in a small closet off a den. There is barely space for the furnace. I've been changing the filter for 7 years by bending down into that tiny space, and it's not a big deal - it takes me about 3 minutes. I will ask the contractor anyway, to see if there is any way we can fit a filter cabinet. The contractor mentioned with enthusiasm the Honeywell touchscreen thermostat (I believe, but am not certain, it is the Pro 8000, or in the 8000 series). He also mentioned the 9000, which he thought would be overkill for me. When I said I had seen some negative reviews on Amazon of touchscreen Honeywells, he said those are the DIY's you can buy on Amazon or at Home Depot, but the pro-versions won't have any problems. Do you agree/disagree?