The truth about chimney inspections?

3 years ago

I juts purchased a 1957 home with two wood-burning fireplaces that look to be in great condition and I'm dreading the chimney inspection process. The reason is because the last three homes I've lived in (I move around a lot) also had fireplaces and after each inspection (all inspectors were certified) the verdict was (of course) "Oh wow! Yeah, ya gotta replace the liner, the this, the that, and the other thing". After all was said and done I was in by $3k-$6k for each house. So the question is, has there EVER been an instance where the chimney people are just like "Yeah, looks to be in good shape, we'll just do a sweep and be out of your hair."? It seems to me they'll always find $ome rea$on that there's a ton of work required. How can I find out the absolute unbiased truth about my fireplaces? Is that even possible?

To be clear, of course I'd want to know if my chimney really did need repair and I'm happy to pay for the peace of mind that comes from a fully inspected and approved fireplace if that's what needs to be done. But god! Statistically, how can 4 houses ALL need fully relined and repaired chimneys? I don't know, but I'm afraid that it's all gonna happen again after the dreaded inspection. I guess this was more of a rant than a question, but any advice about how I might get an unbiased inspection would be great. Thanks for listening.

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shivece

3 years ago

I just looked up expected life of chimney liners. It depends on the type of liner. Some have an expected life of as many as 50 years and others 15-20 years. Since you are dealing with a 64 year old house, odds seem good some work will be required. I am guessing there is an industry standard for replacement and the insurance companies frown on chimney professionals not recommending replacement of components that have (significantly) exceeded their expected useful lives, no matter what kind of shape they appear to be in based on visual inspection. Hopefully that at least makes all that work make some sense.

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Comments (7)

Angel 18432
3 years ago
Well you could of course buy the house and have a gas fireplace installed which is what I would do anyway. They are great.

My sister was selling her home that had a "fireplace". Inspector said it need this and that.

Bur it wasn't a real fireplace, just one that looked real? Go figure.
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When the inspection says the crawlspaces are not insulated properly, do they mean that the crawlspaces have vapor barriers that were not put in correctly (which, as hollysprings notes, may have caused other issues), or that they simply aren't insulated at all? The latter is super common in old houses (our 100-year-old crawlspace over dirt has no insulation or barriers, for instance, although our climate is not as cold as yours so we've had no real motivation to do it). These all sound like pretty typical old house issues to me, though. (Our house probably had 2/3 of them when we moved in!) The chimney/fireplace repointing is just something that has to be done every so often; ditto with replacing shakes, etc. Sometimes inspections will also call things that were okay when they were done but no longer accepted (e.g., our attic had loose insulation over knob-and-tube wiring, which is a big no-no today, but was permitted when it was installed by our local electric company as part of a weatherproofing program for seniors many years ago). Assuming your lender doesn't require any of this to close, I'd probably just ask for a price reduction/credit to address these--most of them aren't expensive and many can be DIYed if you feel like it. Then you can decide how/if you want to address them yourself. None of these would be dealbreakers for me, though, as an owner of a similarly old house. Good luck!
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Mary Elizabeth
3 years ago
last modified: 3 years ago
I understand your concern. We bought our house 10 years ago - built in 1965 - which also has 2 wood burning fireplaces. Our inspector gave us the "all clear" on both, which really surprised us.

We have since learned that fireplaces that have the chimney outside the main structure (like the classic look, at the side of a colonial), deteriorate more quickly than those that have the main structure on the interior. Both of ours are in the center of the house - on different floors.

Not sure where yours are located.
latifolia
3 years ago
Do you always buy older homes? If you bought a custom (not builder grade) home built in 2010, it probably wouldn't arise.

Old homes have asbestos, lead paint, aluminum wiring and, yes, failing chimneys. If they're old enough, they have knob and tube wiring. They have single pane windows and poor insulation.

But they also have charm and good locations. Take your pick!
jrb451
3 years ago
I’m guessing you plan on using the fireplace frequently?
Angel 18432
3 years ago
Probably a chimney problem is the first of many problems with a 1957 house.

Probably needs gutting to the studs, new wiring, new insulation, maybe new sub floor.

The list goes on and on.
formulaross20
3 years ago
What we usually get from an inspection is an opinion, and opinions are just a starting position to argue from. Have the chimney inspected using video recoding equipment. Pictures of the interior condition is the only way to conclusively show whether there is an issue or not, it takes away the guesswork.

https://verticalchimney.com/blog/chimney-video-inspection/

The truth about chimney inspections?

shivece

Comments (7)

Angel 18432

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Mary Elizabeth

latifolia

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