Expert: James Ball - 5/29/2010

Question
A year and a half ago I built a block chimney onto the exterior brick wall of my home.  The chimney lined of course.  The overhang of the roof was cut out and flashed.  It is connected to a wood burning stove in my basement.

Now I want to finish the outside of the chimney.  I've looked into brick, but they do not make the same brick anymore.  Next I considered rock or stucco, but the house is already brick & vinyl siding, and I'm not sure the 3rd dimension of rock would look right.

Now I am thinking about using vinyl siding to match the existing materials.  I would have to run strips horizontally on the block to allow a gap and something to mount to.

My question is about the safety of this.  My wife says she has seen a number of chimneys done this way, but I've read something about house inspectors siting this as a bad practice.  We will probably sell the house is a couple of years and I don't want to have any red flags.

Is this a good way to finish the chimney?  If so, how much gap should I have between the block and vinyl?  What material should I used to make the gap?

Thanks in advance.

Answer
Hello Mike my advise would be to contact your local building department and see what they say (any red flags would come from them or would be squashed by doing their way)
You may need to run metal channel instead of wood or vinyl.
James
Mike I am sorry you feel I did not answer  your question and I have dealt with this on 2 chimneys I have installed (2" to combustibles) , but if I tell you one thing your building department may say some thing else in which case you would have to do it twice.
In my area I do know the local building codes and know the local inspectors, if you don't do it right the first time then at closing you will have to scramble to get it done right. I had one closing held up by a chimney just needing a cleaning and they needed it done the next day in October (busiest time of the year) I charged extra but did not hammer them.
I deal with this too, some thing in the home inspection needs to be done ASAP and I get a frantic call to fix some thing that might not be able to be fixed in that short time like re siding a chimney to what a local building department wants
please just give them a call or stop by (you can just ask a general question with out giving your address) they are there to help you and will give you the info you need for your town.
James