Fireplaces that don't work (smell, installed, living room, chimney)
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That leads me to another question. Do fireplaces need to be certified and or inspected after being repaired? This would make sense since it could burn down the house if not done correctly, but I don't know.
Yeah you need to get done one who does chimneys to repair it. A creosote fire is no joke either. The chimneys require periodic cleaning and checkups. Most don't do it. Truthfully you will probably get more efficiency out of a wood pot belly type stove
thank god I knew I was right in not wanting to use the fireplace that came with this house and now it is just something to look at . It has never been used the first owner put it in and never used it , don't know why and then the second owner has never used it either and we probably wont use it either . I think people brick them in because they think their heat escapes from them and causing their heating bills to go up . That is just my guess .
The heat loss going up the chimney wasn't worth keeping it going. We also had a bird, a bat and a squirrel come down the chimney during those years (while it wasn't lit of course) We have some pretty funny stories trying to catch them loose in the house, and we had soot all over the carpet in front.
This is what we did with ours. We cleaned the inside of the fireplace and then used a rag and paint to get sort of a weathered look on the inside bricks and painted the floor of the fireplace black.
The stove was designed to be free-standing with a flue on top, and when we installed it we used sheet metal to seal off the chimney except for a hole for the flue, which extends up a few feet.
This is a modern stove so it has a reburner which completely burns the wood. There is nothing left but fine ash. Many times we burn a Firelog, which gives enough heat (and silence) for an evening of watching television. If I load it completely it will heat our 2000 square foot home almost all night.
We could just have easily used the gas model.
The fan control can be seen on the lower right, and that white mass is actually the reflection of Morgan, our dog.
It has been installed for about 8 years. We look forward to those cold rainy nights.....
Last edited by Listener2307; 08-24-2016 at 10:20 AM..
Old chimneys were not built with a fire clay liner, so are not safe during chimney fires. Even if there was a liner, sometimes they break down and make the chimney unsafe. Modern codes also require a 2" air gap between the brick and combustible surfaces like wood framing. Some fireplaces were actually built sitting on wood framing, so if the house shifts the brick cracks.
Some fireplaces can be rescued by installing an insert and stainless flue. The options for inserts are wood, gas and pellet. We have many acres of timber, so use a wood burning insert. There is more wood just falling off of trees than we need to heat the house. Inside a city where you have to pay for wood, a gas insert would probably be a better choice. My parents installed on in their 70s that had gas logs. It was nice backup heat when the power went out. Even if the blower was not working on the insert, it was enough to take the chill off the house, and you could pull a chair over and be pretty warm sitting in front of it.
In my market it is often used as a disclaimer... in other words not only has the seller not made any positive representations regarding the fireplace they have flatly put in writing the opposite.
There is also a huge move to eliminate wood burning in the SF Bay Area... often not possible to even install any wood burner with new construction.
What I often see are statements like Fireplace Ornamental Only or Fireplace Never Used.
My friends bought a home like this and had a stainless liner added for an insert... they enjoy it but it was never inspected as far as I know and spent about $3500.
The big problem is the times they want to use it the most are Spare the Air days no burning permitted and we do have roving smoke police.
Our house has 5 fireplaces. When we bought the house, we only knew of 4 but discovered one behind a wall. It wasn't bricked over, it was walled over.
The fireplace in the living room is the only one we really worked on. The chimney was rebuilt and we put in a new liner. We also painted the brick since it was already painted. It is now a working wood fireplace.
The others were original coal. The others are on the same chimneys (2 on each). We just had those chimneys pointed and capped off. At some point we may decided to turn them into wood burning fireplaces but we would probably have to rebuild the chimneys and put in a liner. We have a beautiful marble fireplace that I love. I have been meaning to put some candles in it but haven't as of yet. The one we found, is brick and we believe it used to be the kitchen. There are still hooks where the pots would hang from. The two in the upstairs bedrooms are closed off. The one in our bedroom has a slate plate (that matches the mantle) and the one in the spare bedroom just has plywood painted black. I want to get what they call a summer plate which is usually made out of cast iron. Again, I haven't as of yet.
I've been looking online at some old homes, mostly from the 1920s through 1940s listed for sale. Some of them show the fireplace closed off, enclosed by bricks, or say fireplace doesn't work.
What would make a fireplace not work and why on earth would someone close it off rather permanently by bricking it off ? Is this something that can be repaired in some or most cases? It seems like a shame to have a beautiful old fireplace like that. I suppose if you throw enough money at it, it can be make functional again.
Our fireplace in our house built in 1924, was a gas fire place. The gas works have been taken out. The fireplace can now burn wood....but the chimney was made for gas venting, and it's not good at drawing smoke. After smoking the house out four times and having two successful burns...well it's just not worth it. Might do the gas logs someday...
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When we bought the house, we only knew of 4 but discovered one behind a wall. It wasn't bricked over, it was walled over. 
