Rosanne is an interior design and home improvement writer with 8 years of experience. During that time she has worked with numerous businesses and publications. Rosanne has been with Forbes Home for ...

Q. We had a chimney cleaning service inspect our chimney and they suggested that we install an insulated flexible aluminum flue liner in our chimney connected directly to our gas water heater vent.

That new high-efficiency furnace you’re installing might come at a high price: a buildup of carbon monoxide around the water heater or condensation in the chimney. The source of the problem is what ...

Question: When I was selling my home, the home inspector recommended the chimney, which we have used for years, get a new liner just for the water heater. This will cost several hundred dollars that I ...

Q. We have had a persistent leak in the ceiling by our fireplace. I read in your column that a saddle or a cricket behind the chimney would help this. We had a new saddle installed but have found that ...

“That’s too much — no one else even mentioned we’d need an expensive liner — you trying to rip us off here?” Chimneys — you can’t live with them and you can’t live without them — or at least you ...