Famco Chimney Liner & Rebuild Nationwide

Famco Chimney Liner & Rebuild in Annapolis: What to Know First

We provide independent Famco chimney liner installation, replacement, and full chimney rebuilds throughout Annapolis, including the Historic District, Eastport, and the waterfront neighborhoods down to Quiet Waters Park. A typical Famco liner job takes one day from setup to cleanup, and we give you a firm price before a single tool comes off the truck, not a range that doubles by the time the invoice shows up. Most liner replacements run between $1,800 and $3,400 depending on flue height, access, and whether the old liner comes out clean or fights us the whole way.

Call (240) 851-3653

This page is for Annapolis homeowners who own a home with a Famco liner already installed, or who’ve been told they need one. If you’ve got a camera report from another company saying the liner is shot, call (240) 851-3653 and we’ll give you a straight second opinion, free.

How Famco Products Fail - and How We Fix Them

Famco makes a solid liner. We’ve installed enough of them over the years to know where they hold up and where they don’t. Here’s what we actually see in Annapolis flues:

• Famco Flex-Liner seam separation at the pop-rivet joints. The Flex-Liner series uses riveted seams, and after years of heating and cooling cycles, those rivets can loosen and the seam opens a hair. You won’t see it from the firebox. The camera will. The fix is usually a full liner replacement; patching a separated seam is a temporary band-aid, and we won’t lie to you about that.
• Corrosion pitting on Famco stainless liners in flues that vent gas appliances only. This one catches people off guard. Gas flues run cooler, which sounds fine, but the condensation sits in the liner instead of burning off. We see pitting concentrated in the lower third of the liner, right where the flue gas cools. If we catch it early on camera, we’ll tell you. Sometimes it can wait. Sometimes it can’t.
• Crushed liner from masonry shifts in older Annapolis chimneys. This isn’t a Famco defect, it’s a chimney defect. The liner flexes, masonry doesn’t. Homes in the Historic District and Murray Hill have chimneys old enough that the brick has moved, and that movement pinches the liner until it kinks. We’ve pulled liners out that looked like a straw someone stepped on. That’s a rebuild scenario, not just a liner swap.
• Improperly sized aftermarket Famco liners from past installs. A liner that’s too big for the flue drafts poorly and builds creosote faster. Too small, and it overheats. We’ve seen both in Annapolis homes where a previous contractor used whatever was on the truck. We measure the flue, the appliance, and the draft requirement before we order anything.
• Famco rigid stainless sections with failed furnace cement at the joints. Rigid liner sections are cemented at the seams, and once the cement crumbles, flue gas leaks into the chimney cavity. You usually won’t see stains, but you’ll smell it, especially on humid summer days. The fix is a full re-cement or a switch to a sealed flexible liner, depending on the flue and the appliance.

The honest through-line here: most Famco liner failures we see aren’t manufacturing problems. They’re age, installation shortcuts, or a chimney that was moving before the liner went in. We fix the whole thing, not just the metal tube.

Our Famco Chimney Liner & Rebuild Process

Here’s how a Famco liner or rebuild job goes when you call us in Annapolis:

1. 1
   We answer the phone. A live person picks up, 24/7. It might be Wendell. You describe what’s going on, and we schedule a camera inspection at a real arrival window, not “sometime between 8 and 6.”
2. 2
   Camera inspection, top to bottom. You watch over our shoulder or we leave you the footage. We measure the flue, check the masonry, and determine whether the liner is worth saving or needs full replacement.
3. 3
   A plain-English verdict and a firm written price. We tell you exactly what we found, what it costs to fix, and what can wait. If it doesn’t need doing, we’ll tell you that too. The price we quote is the price on the invoice, period.
4. 4
   We pull the old Famco liner. If it’s flexible, we remove it from the top or through the firebox, whichever causes less damage. If the old liner is jammed, we’ll say so before we start and adjust the plan, not the price.
5. 5
   We install the new liner or rebuild the chimney. We use OEM Famco when the warranty requires it, and quality aftermarket when it doesn’t. We spec the liner to the appliance and the flue, not to what’s on sale that week. The liner goes in, gets secured, sealed, and reconnected properly.
6. 6
   We test, clean up, and put it in writing. We light the appliance, verify the draft, check for leaks, and run the camera one more time so you can see the finished job. Then you get the 90-Day Done Right Promise in writing. If it’s not right, one call brings us back, no charge.

What Famco Chimney Liner & Rebuild Costs in Annapolis

Here are the ranges we quote most often for Famco work in the Annapolis area:

What moves the price: flue height, roof pitch, scaffolding needs, how stubborn the old liner is, and whether the masonry needs work before the liner goes in. We don’t charge a trip fee inside the county, and the $40-off-any-repair-over-$200 offer applies to liner work. Seniors and veterans always get 10% off, no questions asked. Call (240) 851-3653 for an exact quote, free.

Why Annapolis Homeowners Call Top Hat Chimney for Famco Work

We’ve been working Annapolis chimneys since 1999, and most of our Famco liner calls come from a neighbor referral, not an internet ad. Wendell Pike puts his name on every job, and you’ll run into him at the hardware store on a Saturday. He’s not hiding behind a call center. The crew shows up in uniform, background-checked, and we give you a real arrival window. If it slips, we call. Every job, including Famco liner and rebuild work, carries the 90-Day Done Right Promise in writing. If it’s not right, one call brings us back. And while Famco is one of the brands we install and service, we also work with DuraFlex, HeatShield, and Gelco. That matters because it means we don’t have one hammer and think every liner is a nail. We’ll spec what your flue actually needs.

FAQ: Famco Chimney Liner & Rebuild in Annapolis