How do I find and fix a chimney leak?

I hope you didn't plug the big "3rd hole"...

It's the exhaust for your gas water heater.  They make caps for them, but you can't plug it.

The reason you needed a cricket is because the volume of water hitting the back of that chimney was not being diverted around it. It was most likely pushing water backwards uphill under the shingles. Once under the shingles, leaking through the ceiling was easy.

SV reX said:

I hope you didn't plug the big "3rd hole"...

It's the exhaust for your gas water heater.  They make caps for them, but you can't plug it.

yeah i did not plug that - it is clearly an exhaust. I still don't know why the new furnace install did not use the existing PVC (it was similarly done 'poorly' with exhaust routed out the back of the house and intake from free air around the furnace) pipes that are in that photo. Maybe you aren't supposed to go up two stories with newer high efficiency furnaces for fear of backflow issues or something. It may still be an improvement to at least hook up the intake to an outside air source. 

But that is a different conversation for a different day. 

SV reX said:

The reason you needed a cricket is because the volume of water hitting the back of that chimney was not being diverted around it. It was most likely pushing water backwards uphill under the shingles. Once under the shingles, leaking through the ceiling was easy.

Totally see it. I remember you told me about crickets back at the 2018 challenge or so. My intention was to try all the possible fixes easier than that before going to that level of effort. I now think I have crossed them all off so it is time to cricketfixit. 

I also recently learned that aluminum flashing should not be used on brick chimneys because the chemistry of the brick and mortar mixed with rainwater can corrode aluminum. Pretty sure the previous roofers used aluminum so my flashing may even have a hole or something dumb. 

Robbie (Forum Supporter) said:

I still don't know why the new furnace install did not use the existing PVC (it was similarly done 'poorly' with exhaust routed out the back of the house and intake from free air around the furnace) pipes that are in that photo. Maybe you aren't supposed to go up two stories with newer high efficiency furnaces for fear of backflow issues or something. It may still be an improvement to at least hook up the intake to an outside air source. 

But that is a different conversation for a different day. 

Liability.  That's why.

Man, you and I are fighting similar issues at similar times. I believe our water leak was repaired before we moved in, but we are now fixing the (previously covered with drywall) plaster damage. When we moved in, our chimney-sweep pulled a ~30lb chunk of concrete off the flue that he said had formed in place - aka repair above on the chimney dropped wet concrete down in. Doing the living room now and expecting that we'll have to do the same repair in our bedroom directly above it sometime soon.

We found a window though, so that's a plus..

Edit: didn't realize you had commented on mine too, lol.

In reply to Robbie (Forum Supporter) :

Word on building the cricket...

You usually do your own work, so I will assume you are the one building it. 
 

Remove a large area of shingles first. Then frame your cricket. Then reinstall the shingles (flashing both valleys properly). 
 

Don't try to build on top of the roof shingles. There is no amount of sealant that will make it right. The shingles MUST be removed, and reinstalled. 

In reply to SV reX :

Thanks! That does answer one of my questions I had, but I was leaning that way anyway. 

I usually do my own work and I might on this too but I am going to quote it out and at least see. 

Well, we got a good quote on the roof work so I decided to sub it out, which after seeing how much work they did I think was very much the right choice. But I think the results are great. I also had them add a ton of roof vents (7, to add to the few we already had) to help prevent ice dams in winter and to keep us cooler in summer. I have already noticed a change in heat feeling like it is coming down from the ceiling. I have to get up there soon to trim a tree that is starting to scrape on my roof so I will get some pics then. 

I've also been hard at work on the inside.

I'm not a pro drywaller but it looks alright to me!

Will be adding carpentry and tile soon.

SV reX said:

Robbie (Forum Supporter) said:

OHSCrifle said:

What's behind the four wood squares located beside (and above) the fire box?

I was hoping someone on here would know that. They seem to be covering ventilation shafts (vertical) that both go down to the basement. Maybe you could open them up and the hot chimney would pull cool air from the basement and heat it and bring it upstairs?

I'm thinking perhaps this house used to have a oil burning furnace, and the ducts were to bring heat from the furnace into the LR.  They may also connect to the 2 extra flue tiles on the chimney cap to exhaust.

I was wrong initially. They do not connect to anything vertically. They only go to the firebox walls. So I now think they were just vents to allow more heat to get pumped into the house from having a fire. Ie cool room inside air from lower vent is heated by the firebox and then rises and come out the upper vent on each side. 

I added a little outlet and ran cable to it so we can put our TV control box in there. Also added some 2 inch PVC "conduit" so we can go from the TV to the TV control box in a nicely hidden way.

Be very careful here - it looks like you have combustible material (new studs) too close to - or even below - the top of the fireplace opening. Am I seeing that correctly?

OHSCrifle said:

Be very careful here - it looks like you have combustible material (new studs) too close to - or even below - the top of the fireplace opening. Am I seeing that correctly?

You are seeing that correctly. But I am framing for a gas insert, my understanding is the insert could essentially be installed in a cabinet if you wanted to. 

Robbie (Forum Supporter) said:

OHSCrifle said:

Be very careful here - it looks like you have combustible material (new studs) too close to - or even below - the top of the fireplace opening. Am I seeing that correctly?

You are seeing that correctly. But I am framing for a gas insert, my understanding is the insert could essentially be installed in a cabinet if you wanted to. 

Alright. That's a relief. 

In reply to OHSCrifle :

Well, thanks for posting your concern!!

I called the fireplace guy just to check and he informed me that I do need to avoid combustible materials within 12 inches of the firebox. DOH! But better to learn sooner rather than later. 

So last weekend I started the process to convert to metal studs.

Cut everything out carefully:

Build a wood frame back in to support the wood I removed, and then frame out the fireplace opening again with metal studs. I really dislike working with metal studs...

Replace drywall, add backer board to exposed metal studs (at advice of fireplace guy), start building mantle.

Keep working on mantle.

Frame out lower "cabinets"

Install upper trim.

Excellent work! I have neither the tools or experience to do something like.

And where I am today, lower trim installed. Next up is caulk, priming, tile, "cabinet" doors, then paint.

More updates, and the new fireplace insert should be installed today.

First, here's what the roofers added:

Next, we've been thrashing to finish tile and paint.

Then paint 

Still need to make, paint, and attach cabinet doors.

Getting close!!

Is your wife aware you're posting pictures of her in her underwear?