Had a whole brick course start to lean on a chimney rebuild in Bellingham

The old flue liner was pulling it out of plumb, so I had to stop, pull the whole top section, and shim the liner with some scrap copper before starting over. Anyone ever run into something like that with an old chimney?

3 comments

3 Comments

wyatt_green311mo ago

Scrap copper is a solid choice for that shim job, it won't compress like wood might. I've used old license plates for the same thing on a stubborn flue. Just make sure whatever you use is non-combustible.

rileynelson1mo ago

Shim the liner with some scrap copper" is the kind of brilliant, desperate fix I fully respect. My version of that usually involves a lot of swearing and a trip to the hardware store for the third time in a day. Old chimneys have a mind of their own, like they're actively fighting you for messing with their decades of bad decisions. Sounds like you got it sorted the hard way, which is the only way these projects ever seem to go.

grace_white1mo ago

Right? Old houses feel like they're fighting back sometimes. My last place needed so many weird little fixes that I started keeping random metal scraps in a bucket.