I received the final section of our wood stove chimney yesterday. I’ve been purchasing these things a few at a time over the past few months as to keep the expense of installing a new wood stove as least noticeable as possible. Overall, I say I’ve done pretty well because, as I’ve mentioned in one of my previous posts, the slow purchase of these parts has given me time to think about exactly how I’d like to set things up. It’s also kept a big chunk of money from flowing out of my bank account all at once. Since this is the final section of chimney, I’d say this job is done.
I knew I’d like to write a post about positioning this three foot piece of pipe all the way on top of all the others, but I wasn’t quite sure how I could get that done. It really is a balancing act up there on the ladder and roof and it’s no time to be taking photos of myself. And I wanted to avoid taking pictures of a naked chimney. That’s pretty boring. So I got around all that by asking Laura to snap some photos of me in action. It’s so much better and more fun to be in these types of pictures. I get to show off how daring I am. Either daring or stupid. Since I completed everything successfully, I guess we’ll stick with daring. And handsome.
Okay, let’s start off with me looking straight up the outside of the chimney. This is just my artistic side coming out.
I already installed two three-foot sections of chimney, plus a smaller one foot section that came with the “through the wall” kit, so what I wanted to do was remove that one foot section, plus the cap and attach the section to the new three-foot section. So, the first thing I did was climb up on the ladder to unscrew and take that piece down.
When I got that small section down, I attached it to the larger one.
After that, the trick was to carry the sections up the ladder and onto the roof. This is easier said than done because the ladder was somewhat shaky and the roof is at a 45 degree angle. It’s pretty steep. I did it though and then I stretched out as far as I could to to connect the chimney pieces together.
When I put the pieces together, I then drilled some more sheet metal screws into them to make sure they stayed that way. It’s not like these sections would ever come apart, but the screws helps keep the entire chimney stiff and secure. I don’t want things swaying around up there in the wind.
By the way, these three-foot pieces of Duravent wood stove chimney are galvanized and they cost approximately $75 each from Home Depot. With free shipping. The stainless steel pieces cost about $25 more each.
This was the scariest part because I felt like I was going to slide down the roof. The pitch is just at the point of me sliding. My Crocs held tight though.
No wait. This was the scariest part because if I moved the wrong way, complete and utter disaster would occur. I had to partially climb the bracket.
I didn’t make a wrong move though and I survived. Knock on wood. I completed the install and came back down the ladder. Here’s the finished product.
Once I got up there on the roof and realized how tall the existing chimney actually was, I knew this was somewhat of a risky maneuver. I thought about it and decided that I was going to enjoy myself while I still can. I love climbing on things and I’ll likely continue to do so until I can’t anymore. If I keep at it and stay limber, I figure I can continue to have this type of fun well into my 80s.
I hope you enjoyed this post and the pictures I included. Thanks for reading!
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