Stoneybrook Hills chimney service from a local family company

Some masonry chimneys serve more than the fireplace. Stoneybrook Hills is a community in Orange County, and if the chimney on your Stoneybrook Hills home also vents a furnace or a water heater, or once did, that second use matters whenever anything connected to it changes. The Florida Building Code requires a masonry chimney to be lined, with a lining suited to the type of appliance connected, according to that appliance's listing and instructions.

Where two or more flues share one chimney, the code separates them with masonry, and the Brick Industry Association notes that many building codes do not allow flues of dissimilar systems or fuels to be combined. The Florida Building Code, Fuel Gas, adds that abandoned inlet openings in a chimney are closed by an approved method, and that an appliance may not be connected to a flue serving a factory-built fireplace unless it is listed for that.

That is why changes made one at a time can go wrong. Replacing a furnace, removing a water heater, adding a stove or relining the fireplace flue can each leave another flue unlined, open or shared in a way the code does not allow. Before any of that work, it helps to know how many flues the chimney holds and what each one serves.

Separate flue tops are often visible from the roof, and the code has each appliance connection enter the chimney from the side through a thimble. We map the flues, check each lining and connection and explain which trade handles which part, with the chimney work written out on the estimate. Stoneybrook Hills homeowners get the inspection free, upfront pricing and 10% off work booked within 72 hours after it with our local, family-owned team.