All About Chimneys--Building, Using, Maintaining & Repairing

From the Introduction: A quick look through any of the home and garden or popular science magazines reveals many ads offering wood burning stoves for sale. With increasing heating fuel costs, homeowners are turning to wood for supplemental heat. They are reducing their fuel bills substantially. Many more homeowners would probably use wood heat if a flue was not required. Thousands of homes are without flues, particularly those that were built in the 1960s and use electric heat. Power companies at that time promoted electric heat which obviously didn't need a chimney or flue. If you live in an old home whose chimney has not been used for years, the chimney probably needs repairing. This book shows you how to evaluate the condition of an existing chimney, make any necessary repairs, maintain your chimney properly, and even how to design and build new chimneys and fireplaces.