How to run the fireplace plot: 1. RIGHT NOW a. put your head in it and look up the chimney. Can you see sky? Does it feel colder than the room? If so, your damper may not be closed. b. Find your damper switch. It should be on the inside of the fireplace above the opening to your living room. If your damper is open or leaky, wiggle the switch until it closes and seals. c. If the damper doesn't seal, go to home depot and get enough fiberglass insulation to plug the bottom of the chimney for the winter. Either the 1" boards that come in 4'x8' sheets, which you can cut to size, jam up right above your living room opening and secure with brick tape, or the flexible rolls of fiberglass batting. Toss the leftovers in your garage. They'll come in handy at some point.
2. Run the full chimney plot (easier in the spring) a. Get an inspection and cleaning. Ask the chimney company what kind of inspection they'll do. The best inspections involve 2 people running a camera up and down the whole length and looking for holes in the lining. This will cost about $400 and you'll get a list of recommended repairs with it. (anywhere from $50 to $20,000, probably. $50 is "we touched up a little hole while we were in there. wait 48 hours for the concrete to cure before lighting a fire." $20,000 is "your whole chimney is a fire hazard and needs to be rebuilt to modern fire code.")
Average inspections involve 2 people with mirrors on sticks.
b. Your heating system probably uses the same brick chimney as your fireplace, with a separate metal flue running up it. Modern fire code wants a metal flue for your fireplace too, or at least a concrete lining, instead of the old-fashioned unlined brick kind.
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regna
(no subject)
Date: 2010-10-17 07:32 pm (UTC)1. RIGHT NOW
a. put your head in it and look up the chimney. Can you see sky? Does it feel colder than the room? If so, your damper may not be closed.
b. Find your damper switch. It should be on the inside of the fireplace above the opening to your living room. If your damper is open or leaky, wiggle the switch until it closes and seals.
c. If the damper doesn't seal, go to home depot and get enough fiberglass insulation to plug the bottom of the chimney for the winter. Either the 1" boards that come in 4'x8' sheets, which you can cut to size, jam up right above your living room opening and secure with brick tape, or the flexible rolls of fiberglass batting. Toss the leftovers in your garage. They'll come in handy at some point.
2. Run the full chimney plot (easier in the spring)
a. Get an inspection and cleaning. Ask the chimney company what kind of inspection they'll do.
The best inspections involve 2 people running a camera up and down the whole length and looking for holes in the lining. This will cost about $400 and you'll get a list of recommended repairs with it. (anywhere from $50 to $20,000, probably. $50 is "we touched up a little hole while we were in there. wait 48 hours for the concrete to cure before lighting a fire." $20,000 is "your whole chimney is a fire hazard and needs to be rebuilt to modern fire code.")
Average inspections involve 2 people with mirrors on sticks.
b. Your heating system probably uses the same brick chimney as your fireplace, with a separate metal flue running up it. Modern fire code wants a metal flue for your fireplace too, or at least a concrete lining, instead of the old-fashioned unlined brick kind.