Hi all, I have a chimney exhaust problem and I was hoping y'all would have some insight on what I should do. [B]Long story short, a chimney repair company quoted me $3,000 to install a metal flue liner in my chimney for the furnace and water heater exaust. See their detailed quote at the end of the post. Is it worth it?[/B] The house is a 1938 stone house, and the chimney is not in great shape. The tile flue liner has cracks, the exterior was badly deteriorated (re-mortered 6 months ago though), and the crown was not correctly poured. It was not well taken care of for years. Since we started using the heat a couple months ago, the mortar has darkened and my wife is afraid that we've damaged the chimney. I was looking at some DIY flue liner options because $3,000 is a lot to invest in this. That doesn't even include the additional $7,000 to get the fireplace part in working order. [B]My question: is it worth doing this? Is the work appropriate for the price they quoted me?[/B] I've had some tell don't even worry about, and others tell me I need to take care of it now. I guess it's hard to know if I'm being taken advantage of. If I'm spending $3,000 I want to know it's going to good use. Are there any other solutions? the company's quote: [quote] $3,000 Set up 25' of scaffolding by chimney. Chisel out mortar inside furnace side of chimney. Install 5'' gas B-vent liner into existing liner. Install new B-vent pipe into thimble. Connect furnance with water heater with a y-connector. Replace B-vent pipe to units as needed. Install a custom fabricated galvanized chase cover to top of existing chimney with hole for B-vent to come through. Install gas B-vent cap to liner. Remove scaffolding. [/quote] I can attach the photos they took as soon as I get them.

I have a 40' long concrete block planter at my home that we built seven years ago. Frost has spread two of four rows of blocks at one place where the planter curves. How can I separate the coping or top row of block from the second row? They are locked together with the recommended bead of polyurethane adhesive. I have considered "sawing" it out with a piece of wire but this may not work.