One of the ‘requests’ my wife made for our new house is that we put a fireplace and chimney in the living room. The concessions to her that I’ve made so far are a footing under the basement slab, an opening in the first floor deck and a header in the timber frame above the opening. However, I don’t have the faintest clue what this might cost me; I’ve never priced out masonry except for estimates on simple blockwork.
How do I estimate this thing without drawing it up completely and freaking out when I approach a mason with the concept? All of the masons (and there are a BUNCH) in my area are either 1) very good, but expensive, or 2) cheap hackers. I don’t want a cheap hacker and I don’t think I can handle the masonry work myself. If the price is too high, I may have to bail on the concept.
FWIW, the idea is to build a basic structure out of block, with a straight chimney about 24 x 60 inches right up through the roof. Height from basement slab to top of chimney will be about 35 feet. Single small firebox, cleanout in basement, hearth about 16″ tall by 20″ wide by 5′ long. I plan on using fake stone (cultured stone) to cover the entire thing, and a hearth made from a few 2″ thick pieces of bluestone.
Replies
20-25K
Welcome to the
Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime.
where ...
Excellence is its own reward!
Nice estimate. Mason #1 quoted $18,800 and I *know* he gave me a low bid. So you're right in the ballpark.
I better rethink this one. If I'm gonna spend that kind of green on a fireplace, it better do tricks or somethin'.
Gonna save the cash up and do a retrofit 5-6 years down the road, put in a woodburning oven for pizza & bread.
Well, you definitely need to get one of your good masons to look at it and give you a valid number.
A tall flue like that with a small firebox present some not-insurmountable design problems so that you get a good draw and aren't constantly testing your smoke alarms.
A good, experienced mason can do what you desire, but it won't be cheap. Piffin is probably close, maybe a little on the low side, depending on how it's finished off.
As suggested in another thread, you might consider a really nice woodstove, or gas fireplace with chimney/vent in a chase finished off with cultured rock which you could probably have better DYI success than trying to do a natural stone chimney yourself.
I don't think I can handle the masonry work myself
Why not? With a few bucks worth of muratic acid the FP will clean up and look good, even if uneven and quaint. The best chimney anyway is not laid up, but poured reinforced concrete around a double concentric flue - slip form the chimney first and do your best stone or brickwork around that, use commercial firebox to assure correct dimensions.
My DIY FP with 35 ft reinforced chimney (18" sq flue-big) and stone fireplace cost us less than $200 to build in '72, probably about $1200 at today's prices plus a commercial steel insert (we made our own insert out of scrap steel)
Attachment - just truned arund from 'puter and snapped the pic - the hole is the air exhaust from the 1/8" diamond plate internal hood. After years of glass doors that needed cleaning, put in steel doors with closeable cutouts for effects.
You could expect yurs to look similar for a first attempt at 20s something YO with stone, if it looks too crummy to you, put out the $25K. Ours has had about 300-400 Cords of wood burned in it with no problems over the last 35 years. .
You are right. A little time studying can yield a fine payoff in results.
Welcome to the Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime. where ... Excellence is its own reward!