I have a 2 story SIP house in Wyoming. I have a 48″x84″ area in the center of the structure on one end that will support a rumford fireplace. the house has a 10″X48″X48′ ridge beam running down the center. I want to run the masonry for the fireplace up through the roof, surrounding the ridge beam. the masonry will also lean back toward the outside of the house 12″ over a height of 16′. my 2 questions are:
1- what do i need to do around the central ridge beam? just make sure i have 1″ of air space or do i need something more?
2- can i lean the block back 12″ over that height? and can i also lay the clay flue liner back that much or does it need to be supported?
Replies
Well,
First thing you will need to do is consult your building inspector to see what he will allow or disallow or require to make this happen.
You do not make a chimney 'lean'
You can certainly corbel it over that far in that distance without hurting the draw, but probably not and still use it in any way as a structural support.
You cannot 'surrond' the ridge beam with the chimney. BUT -
There are ways that may be possible to make the masonry both a functional safe chimney AND a structural support if the ridge beam only abutts that mass from both sides
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PiffinThanks for the quick response. I noticed there was a lot of discussion in a previous post about using the chimney as a structural element. This is not the case here, I plan to let the ridge beam remain supported by the gable end, and have the chimney just free stand.No building inspectors in this part of the country, so im on my own. I can do what I think will work.
Sorry about the leaning chimney thing. I would like to corbel it over, but my reading of the code would indicate that the maximum i can corbel the chimney over is 1/2 the width of the block...so, if im using 12" block behind the firebox, i can only (following the code) corbel it over 6". I really need about 9-10". Can that be done without it compromising the structural integrity of the chimney? In this case, the flue will be (leaned i guess) over that amount as well. What do i do to support it as it seems there is a desire to not have the clay flue in contact with the chimney block for differential heating and cooling characteristics
I'm not sure how that code reads, but since you can do whatever you want...;)We have corbeled over half the width of the chimney itself 2-3 times
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I would run straight up and let the ridge bypass the masonry independent then
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thanksall this has really occurred because i want to maintain a 3'X 7' exposure through the roof with the chimney block, and still have the flue avoid the beams and not violate any codes or cause my house to burn down.once again, thanks Piffin for all your advise