Our Chimney Liner Replacement Includes
Benefits of Professional Chimney Liner Replacement
What the Work Involves
Each chimney liner replacement job runs through these 7 steps, in this order.
Camera-survey and record the failure, cracks, gaps, corrosion, blockage
Establish whether the cause was water, condensate, heat or age
Decide whether the old liner is removed or left in place
Size the replacement to the appliance outlet, not the old flue
Confirm grade, diameter, insulation and inclusions in writing
Remove or retain the old liner and install the replacement
Fix the water source above and confirm draft at the appliance
Chimney Liner Replacement
This page covers replacing a liner that has failed. If your chimney has never had one, see liner installation; for the broader question of whether relining is warranted at all, see chimney relining.
Free estimates, no obligation. Call (888) 882-2070.
How Liners Fail
Knowing which of these applies matters, because it determines whether the replacement will last:
- Clay tile cracked or separated. Individual tiles crack, or the mortar joints between them wash out and leave gaps. Water is the usual cause here, rain entering from a cracked crown or missing cap runs down the flue and dissolves the joints over years.
- Metal liner corroded through. Acidic condensate from gas or oil attacks the liner from the inside. An oversized or uninsulated flue accelerates this considerably, because exhaust cools enough to condense.
- Heat damage after a chimney fire. Clay tile can crack from thermal shock in ways that are not visible without a camera, so a fire-damaged flue should be surveyed rather than assumed sound.
- Wrong liner for the fuel. Aluminium fitted where wood or oil is burned, or a low-grade stainless on a gas appliance, fails early by design.
- Age. Clay tile in an old chimney simply reaches the end of its service.
The point of identifying which: if the cause was water, replacing the liner without fixing the crown or cap means the new one starts down the same path. If it was condensate in an oversized flue, replacing like-for-like without resizing or insulating repeats the failure.
Does the Old Liner Come Out?
Sometimes it must, sometimes it need not, and this is a real cost variable worth asking about.
Left in place is common with clay tile: a stainless liner is fed down inside the existing flue, which is quicker and less disruptive. This works where the remaining tile does not restrict the required diameter.
Broken out becomes necessary where the existing tile is too narrow to take a correctly sized liner, where it has collapsed and is obstructing, or where a cast-in-place system is going in. Breaking out clay tile is significant additional labour and it is the item most likely to separate two quotes that otherwise look alike.
Take the Chance to Resize
Replacement is the moment to correct a sizing error rather than reproduce it. Many older flues are considerably larger than the appliance now connected to them, a common situation where a large open fireplace flue is serving a modern insert or a gas unit. Replacing a big liner with another big liner keeps the weak draft and the condensation.
The liner is sized to the appliance outlet. Insulating it in an oversized masonry flue keeps exhaust warm on the way up, which both improves draft and reduces the condensate that killed the last one.
The Florida Pattern
Most liner replacements here trace to one of two causes, and neither is creosote:
Water from above. The dominant one. A cracked crown, a rusted chase cover or a missing cap lets rain into the flue, where it washes out mortar joints between clay tiles and corrodes metal from outside as well as in. At Florida humidity the flue never dries between events, so the process runs continuously.
Gas condensate. Gas exhaust carries water vapor that condenses in a cool or oversized flue, and that condensate is mildly acidic. Since so many Florida fireplaces are gas or converted, this is the routine metal-liner killer here.
Which is why a liner replacement quote that does not mention the crown, the cap or the chase cover has left out the cause of the failure it is repairing.
What Drives the Cost
There is already a liner in this chimney, and what happens to it decides most of the spread. The smallest realistic version feeds a stainless liner down inside clay tile that has cracked but still leaves the diameter the appliance needs, with no demolition at all. The largest breaks that tile out over the full height, puts an insulated liner behind it, and replaces the crown or chase cover that caused the failure in the same visit.
What the chimney decides
- Whether the old liner comes out. The biggest swing between two quotes that read alike. Tile can often be lined straight through, but comes out where it is too narrow for the diameter needed, or has collapsed.
- What actually failed it. Water from above and acidic condensate pull different work in. Water brings the crown, cap or chase cover into scope, condensate brings resizing and insulation in.
- How far the liner has to travel. It is bought by the foot and fed from the top, so stack height and any bends on the way down both land in the figure.
- Whether the old one was the wrong specification. Aluminium where wood or oil is burned, or a low grade on gas, fails early by design, so the replacement changes specification rather than repeating it.
- Fire damage. After a chimney fire, tile can be cracked in ways nothing shows from the firebox, and the survey decides how much of the old liner can stay.
What you decide
- Resize or reproduce. Replacement is the moment to correct a sizing error rather than repeat it, since many older flues are far larger than the appliance now on them.
- Insulation. Inside a much larger flue it keeps exhaust warm on the way up and cuts the condensate that destroyed the last liner. Leaving it out is a cheaper job and a shorter-lived liner.
- Seal rather than replace, where that narrow case applies. Minor surface cracking in otherwise sound tile can be sealed. Separated sections cannot.
- Whether the water source is fixed now. It can wait, which runs the new liner under the water that killed the old one and pays for roof access twice.
So the camera survey is what produces the estimate, which is why it comes before the quote. The crew records the failure, establishes the cause, and the estimate names grade, diameter, insulation, removal and any water-source work, free, written and itemised line by line. The item that moves this job most, whether tile is broken out, is settled by what a camera sees inside the flue.
What to Ask
- Can I see the camera footage of the failure?
- What caused it, water, condensate, heat or age? If nobody can say, the cause is not being fixed.
- Is the old liner coming out, and is that in the price?
- Is the new liner the same size as the old one, or correctly sized to my appliance?
- Is the crown, cap or chase cover included?
Free estimates, no obligation, call (888) 882-2070.
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(888) 882-2070Frequently Asked Questions
How do I know my liner has failed?
A camera survey is what establishes it, and any replacement recommendation should be based on one you can see. The findings that matter are cracked or displaced clay tiles, gaps where mortar joints between tiles have washed out, corrosion or perforation in a metal liner, and pieces of tile collected on the smoke shelf or in the firebox.
What caused my liner to fail?
In Florida it is usually one of two things, and neither is creosote. Water entering from a cracked crown, missing cap or rusted chase cover runs down the flue and dissolves the mortar joints between clay tiles. Or acidic condensate from a gas appliance in a cool or oversized flue corrodes a metal liner from the inside.
Does the old liner have to be removed?
Not always. A stainless liner can often be fed down inside existing clay tile, which is quicker and cheaper, provided the remaining tile does not restrict the diameter needed. Removal becomes necessary where the tile is too narrow, has collapsed and is obstructing, or where a cast-in-place system is going in. It is the biggest cost swing between otherwise similar quotes.
Should the replacement be the same size as the old liner?
Not necessarily, and replacement is the moment to correct a sizing error rather than reproduce it. Many older flues are much larger than the appliance now connected to them, which gives weak draft and condensation. The replacement should be sized to the appliance outlet, and insulated if it sits inside a much larger masonry flue.
Can a cracked clay liner be repaired instead?
Sometimes. Minor surface cracking in otherwise sound tile can be sealed with purpose-made products. Extensive damage, separated sections or multiple cracks generally need full replacement, and patching those spends money while leaving the hazard. The camera survey is what distinguishes the two cases.
Do I need to fix the crown at the same time?
If water caused the failure, yes, and it usually did. Replacing a liner underneath a cracked crown, missing cap or rusted chase cover means the new liner starts down exactly the same path. A quote that does not mention the water source has left out the cause of the failure it is repairing.
What happens after a chimney fire?
The flue should be surveyed before any further use. Clay tile can crack from thermal shock in ways that are not visible from the firebox, so a fire-damaged liner should be treated as compromised until a camera survey shows otherwise. It is also the situation most likely to be covered by a homeowner policy, so document it before work starts.
Which grade of stainless for a replacement?
316Ti, a titanium-stabilised grade, for gas and oil because it resists the acidic condensate those fuels produce. 304 for wood-burning applications. If the liner being replaced was aluminium on a wood or oil appliance, or a low grade on a gas one, that mismatch is likely why it failed and should not be repeated.
Can I keep using the fireplace until it is replaced?
If the survey found gaps or perforations in the liner, no, a failed liner can let combustion gases including carbon monoxide into living space, and that risk is present every time the appliance runs. That is a genuine shutdown rather than a sales tactic, and it is worth asking the inspector to state plainly whether the flue is safe to use in the interim.
How much does liner replacement cost?
The other variables are whether the old liner has to be broken out, the biggest single swing, plus grade, diameter, insulation, number of offsets, and any water-source repairs needed at the same time.
Chimney Liner Replacement Service Areas
We provide chimney liner replacement services throughout Florida
Related Services
Chimney problems rarely arrive alone. These are the services most often needed alongside this one.