Chimney capping complete

Partially thanks to our former uninvited house guest, we became aware that we needed some semi-serious chimney work. In short, we needed a new liner, new mortar on the top, some height adjustments on the three holes, and a couple of new caps.

After a few weeks, I managed to get our chimney guys to come out and do the work. On a 100+ degree Friday. I originally thought they would do just the indoor work (cutting a big hole in our wall and chimney to create a drip pan) and install part of the new liner. But I guess they were on a roll, so they proceeded to do the mortar and height adjustments along with installing the liner. I spent the day trying to do work and feeding the workers ice and water.

After day 1, our house had the following changes:

1. Shiny new pipe:

2. Tarp on our chimney (mortar is stronger when it cures at a slower pace):

3. Finally, a big gaping hole above our basement fireplace:

The following Monday they came back, pulled the tarp off, removed their ladders, added the chimney caps, and took a picture for us:

They adjusted the heights of the openings to improve the flow of air. In a strange coincidence(?) our master bedroom closet (right next to the chimney) got a lot cooler. (Around the same time, we also had to fix the AC intake pipe that ran next to the closet, so honestly we have no idea what is making the closet cooler. Not that we're complaining.)

Hopefully we can ignore the chimney (besides yearly-ish cleanings) for a LONG time.