Anyone have a brick fireplace/chimney rebuilt?

[375instroke]

Mine's falling apart.  What do they cost?  I'm thinking $5,000 to $10,000.  That sound right?

[Richard Cranium]

Unfortunately, you're in the ball park and it'll probably be closser to 10 grand. Don't go with Vietnamese, Irish, or Mexican masons. Everyone knows that all the good masons are Italian. 

[Patronus]

I know excellent masons...who are mexican. All racism aside, you'd be best to get 3-4 quotes and go from there. And as with everything, you'll get what you pay for.  

Also, I've spent time in Italy. And the reason they are masons is because they never stop having to fix what they've already done.

[bakerhillpins]

Are you having the entire thing torn down and rebuilt or just doing major repairs? I have a fireplace on the 2nd floor of a 3 story structure (walk out basement) with the structure inside the building envelope. It was at least 15k. Make sure they use the proper mortar.  I gave the guy explicit instructions and I still ended up with Portland cement in the fire box which can't take the heat.   

[375instroke]

At $10,000, I don't want the fireplace to be worth more than the rest of the house.  The bricks in the firebox are sliding inward, bricks on the very top I could remove without any tools, and the mortar is all deteriorating down to the bottom.  I feel like the entire thing is going to fall down with a gust.

[bakerhillpins]

Do you want to keep the fireplace? If you consider it a hazard then removing it might be the better option. You can always replace it with a gas interior unit and that way you would still have that fireplace look and feel with out the cost over reaching the property. And I live in New England where the cost of living is 2x every where else so take my cost with a grain of salt since it's going to vary a lot with where you live and how bad the economy is sucking wind.

you'd be best to get 3-4 quotes and go from there. And as with everything, you'll get what you pay for. 

And yea, get quotes and references. And actually check the references. 

[BananaDan]

Have you considered an insert?  I hear good things about them, gas or wood burning, and the inserts actually put heat into your house rather than letting it all escape out the chimney.

Dan

[Patronus]

An up-to-date insert will also have a fan to blow the heated air into your house.