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Chimney Liner Installation in Los Angeles
A new liner goes in when a flue has none, when the old one has failed past repair, or when a new appliance needs a flue of a different size. Getting the size right matters more than the material.
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Chimney Liner Installation Is a New Flue, Not a Patch
Chimney liner installation — relining, in trade shorthand — puts a new, continuous passage inside an existing chimney. The liner is the surface that keeps heat and combustion gases inside the flue and away from the masonry and framing around it, and it sets the size of the passage the appliance breathes through.
This page is about a new liner going in. If you have an existing liner that is cracked or deteriorating and want to know whether it can be saved, chimney liner repair covers that decision. The two overlap at one point: a liner that has failed beyond repair becomes a relining job, and that is where this page picks up.
Why the Flue Size Has to Match the Appliance
Draft depends on warm gas moving at speed. Hot flue gas rises because it is lighter than the air outside. Put a small volume of it into a large flue and it spreads out, slows down and cools, and the chimney stops pulling well. Too small a flue has the opposite problem: it cannot carry what the appliance produces, and smoke or fumes back up.
Cool gas condenses. As flue gas cools below its dew point, the moisture in it condenses on the flue walls. From a wood fire, that condensate carries tar and becomes creosote — the combustible deposit covered on creosote removal. From gas, it is mostly water, mildly acidic, and it works on mortar and clay year after year.
That is why inserts and gas appliances usually need their own liner. A masonry flue built for an open fireplace is sized for a large opening. An insert, a stove or a gas appliance produces far less gas, so the flue is oversized for it. A liner sized to the appliance outlet restores the gas speed and temperature the appliance was designed around.
Insulation does two jobs. It keeps the liner warm, which helps draft and reduces condensation. And in some chimneys it is what gives the liner its required clearance to nearby wood framing, in which case the liner's listing depends on it.
When a Chimney Needs a New Liner
Most relining starts from one of these six situations. Several of them cannot be confirmed from the hearth.
The flue has no liner at all
Some older masonry chimneys were built as a brick passage with nothing inside it. Heat and combustion gases then sit directly against mortar joints, which are porous and were never meant to contain them.
The existing liner has failed
Clay sections missing, displaced or broken up along a length of the flue, so there is no continuous surface left to repair. The line between repairable and failed is covered on the liner repair page.
A fireplace insert is going in
An insert pushes a small volume of gas into a flue built for an open fireplace. Most insert manufacturers call for a liner run from the insert to the top of the chimney, sized to the insert's outlet.
The fuel or appliance is changing
Converting to a gas appliance, adding a wood stove, or swapping one appliance for another with a different outlet size. The flue has to suit what is burning below it, not what was there before.
The fire will not draw in a sound flue
A flue far larger than the appliance needs can stay cold and sluggish even when nothing is damaged. That is a sizing question, and a correctly sized liner is one of the answers.
After a chimney fire damaged the liner
A chimney fire loads a clay liner with rapid heat. Where it has cracked the flue along its length, relining rather than repair is often where the conversation ends up.
If the change is an insert, the insert and the liner are one project — fireplace insert installation covers the appliance side. For a gas conversion, see gas fireplace installation.
Liner Categories, and What Decides Between Them
A liner system is chosen to suit the appliance and the chimney; the manufacturer's listing sets how it is installed. These are the broad categories you will meet while researching — background, not a menu.
Clay tile
Fired clay sections built into a masonry chimney as it goes up. Standard in original construction, but difficult to replace without opening the chimney, so it is rarely the relining answer in an existing stack.
Metal liners
Rigid or flexible metal pipe run down inside the existing flue and connected to the appliance at the bottom. Stainless steel chimney liners are the familiar example; different alloys suit different fuels, and the appliance and liner listings decide which is acceptable.
Poured and resurfacing linings
A material placed inside the existing flue to form a new continuous surface, rather than a separate pipe. Used where the flue shape or condition suits it. Proprietary systems each carry their own conditions of use.
| Appliance | What the liner has to handle |
|---|---|
| Open wood fireplace | Large gas volume, high heat, creosote. Sized to the fireplace opening. |
| Wood insert or wood stove | Smaller gas volume at high temperature. Sized to the appliance outlet, usually run the full height. |
| Gas appliance venting into the chimney | Lower temperature and a lot of water vapor, so condensation and corrosion matter more than heat. |
| Direct-vent gas fireplace | Uses its own sealed vent pipe; the chimney may simply act as a chase for it. |
If you have been quoted a specific named liner product, ask what we can cover before assuming it is available here. Background reading: what a chimney liner does.
What Relining Generally Involves
The flue comes first. Its condition, its inside dimensions and any offsets are established before a liner is chosen, because a flue that turns out to be too small or blocked changes the plan. NFPA 211, the standard covering chimneys, fireplaces and vents, recommends annual inspection, and a change of appliance is one of the moments the trade associates with a closer look. The chimney inspection page explains the inspection levels.
The flue is then cleaned, since a liner should not be run through heavy deposits. A metal liner is usually lowered from the roof, insulated where its instructions call for it, and connected at the bottom to the appliance or to a plate that closes off the old damper opening. At the top, a plate seals the space between liner and flue at the crown, and a cap finishes it.
The appliance is then run and the draft checked. Wood-burners will find practical appliance guidance at EPA Burn Wise, which covers choosing and operating wood-burning appliances.
Reline, Repair, or Leave It
Relining is the right answer when the flue has no usable liner, or when the appliance below it needs a flue the chimney does not have.
Repair is the right answer when an existing liner is sound apart from a limited, reachable defect. Liner repair covers how that is judged.
Something else first when the masonry carrying the liner is in poor shape. A top plate cannot seal to a crumbling crown, and a leaning stack needs rebuilding before anything goes inside it.
When not to call us about relining: if a sound clay liner has one repairable defect and you are keeping the same appliance, a new liner is more than the chimney needs. And if you are decommissioning the chimney for good, lining it is money spent on a flue nobody will use — sealing and capping it is the job, and the liner repair page covers how that is done.
What Drives the Cost of a Chimney Liner
No price is published here. Two relining jobs on houses that look alike can differ widely once the flue is measured, and these are the reasons.
Flue size and shape
A liner has to fit inside the existing flue with the diameter the appliance calls for. A small or oval flue can leave too little room, which changes the options.
Height of the chimney
Liner is run from the appliance connection to the top. A two-story stack needs more material and more handling than a single-story one.
Offsets and bends
A flue that jogs sideways partway up is harder to line than a straight one. Flexible liners can follow moderate bends; sharp offsets can mean more work to get past them.
Liner type
Rigid or flexible, which alloy, and whether a poured lining suits the flue better. The appliance and its fuel set most of this.
Insulation
Whether the liner needs an insulating wrap or fill, either to keep flue gases warm or because the listing depends on it for clearance to combustible framing.
Top plate, cap and bottom connection
The liner is sealed at the crown with a top plate and finished with a cap. At the bottom it connects to the insert, stove or appliance, sometimes through a block-off plate at the damper.
Condition of the masonry
A crown that has to be rebuilt before a top plate can seal to it, or a smoke chamber that needs work before a liner can pass through, adds scope before the liner goes in.
Roof access
Most liners go in from the top. Roof pitch, height and how equipment gets up there all affect the setup.
Tell us what you are seeing and ask for an estimate. If you are also weighing smoke or draft problems, the smoke chamber is worth considering in the same conversation.
Relining a Chimney in Los Angeles
Where a masonry chimney dates from the early part of the last century, it may have been built unlined, and nobody living in the house may know. That is worth establishing before an insert or a gas appliance is connected to it.
Clay flue tile cracked by seismic movement is a separate question with its own answer, covered under liner repair in Los Angeles. Homeowner guidance on liners and appliances is also collected at CSIA homeowner resources.
Planning an insert, a stove, or a gas conversion?
Tell us what appliance is going in, how tall the chimney is, and whether you know if the flue is lined. The appliance model number helps most.
Related chimney & fireplace services
Part of Liner, Flue & Damper — The inside of the chimney — the liner that contains combustion products, and the damper that controls what moves through it.
- what a liner does and when it failsChimney Liner Repair — Clay tile and metal liners — cracks, gaps, deterioration and relining.
- chimney inspectionChimney Inspection — Masonry, crown, cap, flashing, firebox and flue condition, and what it means.
- putting an insert into an existing fireplaceFireplace Insert Installation — Gas, wood and pellet inserts set into an existing masonry fireplace, and the liner they need.
- converting an open hearth to gasGas Fireplace Installation — Gas inserts, gas logs and direct-vent units, and the liner work they need.
- chimney damper repairChimney Damper Repair — Throat and top-sealing dampers — seized, warped, missing or leaking.
- parging a rough smoke chamberSmoke Chamber Repair — The transition between firebox and flue — corbelled brick, parging, draft.
Request an Estimate
Tell us which appliance the flue serves, or will serve.
Repair or reline?
- Same appliance, one defect: start with liner repair.
- No liner, failed liner, or new appliance: this page.
- Not sure what is in the flue: have it looked at first.
Chimney Liner Installation Questions
There are more answers on the Los Angeles homeowner FAQ.
Tell us what your chimney is doing
Call, or send a short description and request an estimate. Estimates cost nothing.