Wood burning fireplace for heat

[franklin2]

You know why snakes love woodpiles? Because the mice like to live there. Nice dry place to make a mouse house, and the snakes know they are there.

Try not to mess around too much in the woodpile during warm weather, besides making the pile bigger. When it gets colder, that is the best time to start digging in the woodpile, when you need the wood for the stove and the snakes if their are any, are very sluggish from the cold.

 

[Chapap]

Here's my fireplace. looks like it already has a chimney liner. The edge brick chimney on the roof lines right up with the wall that the fireplace is on, so I'm guessing that it is brick all the way to the ground. It's not all that big, but I bet I could get a decent insert to put in there.

This ^ is taken through the slats above the opening. Looks like just a funnel into the liner.

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

Just FWIW, that log grate in that fireplace is more ornamental than practical. They suck for burning on, you need something with closely spaced bars like most of the cast ones. The cheap Chinese cast ones don’t last more than a year or two before they kinda melt. We managed to get a USA made cast one and it still looks like the day we bought it like 10 years ago

 

[franklin2]

Here's my fireplace. looks like it already has a chimney liner. The edge brick chimney on the roof lines right up with the wall that the fireplace is on, so I'm guessing that it is brick all the way to the ground. It's not all that big, but I bet I could get a decent insert to put in there.
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This ^ is taken through the slats above the opening. Looks like just a funnel into the liner.

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If you have a fairly new house, the brick, no matter where it's located on the house, is there just for looks. On the real old houses the brick did support things, but on newer houses it's just for looks like vinyl or wood siding. Same with the chimneys, They are usually chimney block, which is a large square one piece cinder block with a large hole in the middle, a liner is inserted in the middle, and then the brick is layed up on the outside just for looks.

 

[Chapap]

If you have a fairly new house, the brick, no matter where it's located on the house, is there just for looks. On the real old houses the brick did support things, but on newer houses it's just for looks like vinyl or wood siding. Same with the chimneys, They are usually chimney block, which is a large square one piece cinder block with a large hole in the middle, a liner is inserted in the middle, and then the brick is layed up on the outside just for looks.

That was one of my questions. could there be a wood frame that the brick is attached to?
Think it's alright to tapcon into the brick to hang a TV?

 

[franklin2]

Should be fine to hang a TV on it. When they use the special cinder blocks for the center of the chimney, they insert these metal strips into the mortar as they are building the chimney. These strips are nailed/screwed to the house, and they are also mortared into the bricks as they are layed up.

 

[Ranger850]

This is a "pre-fab" chimney. Every piece can be replaced and can be dissassembled. Those bricks are faux panels, not real.
This rusty damper would be a concern for me. Rust means water is gettting all the way down there and sitting. Check for a proper Chimney cap. NOT just bird screen.

It looks like it hasn't moved in decades. NOT a good sign. Get the rust of with a wire brush and lubricate the moving parts.

Your log grate is fine, it has the expanded metal bottom to keep the large pieces off the ground.

I would NOT go into the white brick. It's decoration mostly and heat retention minorly, not at all structually supportive. Go ionto a stud in the drywall with wood screws, not tapcons. That metal liner is just boxed in like a closet. There should be studs every 16" on center, like the rest of the house. Unless thats drywall over brick. BUT the white bricks are decor

 

[Chapap]

This is a "pre-fab" chimney. Every piece can be replaced and can be dissassembled. Those bricks are faux panels, not real.
This rusty damper would be a concern for me. Rust means water is gettting all the way down there and sitting. Check for a proper Chimney cap. NOT just bird screen.
View attachment 87726

It looks like it hasn't moved in decades. NOT a good sign. Get the rust of with a wire brush and lubricate the moving parts.

I'm gonna get it inspected. There was absolutely no mention of anything chimney related in the mortgage process... and it was VA too. No chimney cap is visible from the ground. The plan is to get a good insert with a fresh air intake. Are you talking about the fire bricks inside the fire box? That might be good news cause I'd like to pull them out for more insert room.

My parents got their chimney cleaned and sealed. They said it was in pretty bad shape. The insert wasn't sealed at all to the chimney. The fireplace cover was caulked around the insert and brick (acting as the seal). Smoke was getting in all kinds of places it wasn't supposed to, including leaking through the chimney into the wall and attic. They sealed the insert and chimney.

Here's an interesting pic I found. Turns out there is such a thing as a "modern" chimney. I'd bet there's all kinds of codes that prevent the chimney pipe from just running in the wall... cear space requirements and such. I'd bet allot of builders wouldn't build a whole chimney structure just for aesthetics.

 

[Ranger850]

I'm gonna get it inspected. There was absolutely no mention of anything chimney related in the mortgage process... and it was VA too. No chimney cap is visible from the ground. The plan is to get a good insert with a fresh air intake. Are you talking about the fire bricks inside the fire box? That might be good news cause I'd like to pull them out for more insert room.

Yes, in the box, behind those brick panels should be sheet metal. Make sure you get an insert for a "pre fab" or specify that you already have a Liner.

My parents got their chimney cleaned and sealed. They said it was in pretty bad shape. The insert wasn't sealed at all to the chimney. The fireplace cover was caulked around the insert and brick (acting as the seal). Smoke was getting in all kinds of places it wasn't supposed to, including leaking through the chimney into the wall and attic. They sealed the insert and chimney.

There IS a special caulk for Fireplaces, almost like a grout in a tube.

Here's an interesting pic I found. Turns out there is such a thing as a "modern" chimney. I'd bet there's all kinds of codes that prevent the chimney pipe from just running in the wall... cear space requirements and such. I'd bet allot of builders wouldn't build a whole chimney structure just for aesthetics.
View attachment 87727

I assume THIS is what you have, as well. When finished, this will be bricked and look like a traditional fire place/chimny, OR it could be finished like the house, with wooden slats, or Vinyl siding.

After cleaning several hundred, maybe thousands, I have learned there are MANY many combinations of builds. Some parts traditional and some "pre-fab".

 

[Chapap]

Just got it inspected. It's capped on top and there's a crack in the firebrick. Got a quote for $5,000 to put a plate behind and seal that crack along with a chimney cap and plumbing in some pipe. He also said that most likely the brick chimney most likely stops at the roof and doesn't go all the way down to the slab.

They declined to quote anything related to inserts. He said the prefab fireplace would have to come out, and a masonry box built to contain the insert. Going to see what some other folks say.

It seems like the cap is something I could do myself. Maybe even all of it, but I'll have to find some good resources to study up on.

 

[scotts90ranger]

My house had a big old wood stove insert in the brick fireplace that was not up to current standards so they took it out and put it in the garage before the sale was finalized... so off to craigslist I went and found a tube thing that had a fan that you burned the wood on and it blew out hot air, did that for a winter then found an insert with the stainless liner (not insulated but hey...) with cap for I think $750? It's an Osburn of some form, out of production but new enough to have secondary chambers and such and no adjustments... I need to redo the fire brick.

Putting in the insert was pretty simple, had to cut out the valve flapper thing so the liner would go in, dropped the liner in from the top, pushed the insert in then put the liner into the top of the insert, cut the top of the liner to length and clamped the cap on after sizing it to the top of the chimney...

I did have a chimney guy come out and do the first sweep before I had a fire, there was some mortar issues at the time that he fixed then, from then I bought a from the bottom drill attachment flexible chimney brush and clean it out myself...

 

[Chapap]

My house had a big old wood stove insert in the brick fireplace that was not up to current standards so they took it out and put it in the garage before the sale was finalized... so off to craigslist I went and found a tube thing that had a fan that you burned the wood on and it blew out hot air, did that for a winter then found an insert with the stainless liner (not insulated but hey...) with cap for I think $750? It's an Osburn of some form, out of production but new enough to have secondary chambers and such and no adjustments... I need to redo the fire brick.

Putting in the insert was pretty simple, had to cut out the valve flapper thing so the liner would go in, dropped the liner in from the top, pushed the insert in then put the liner into the top of the insert, cut the top of the liner to length and clamped the cap on after sizing it to the top of the chimney...

I did have a chimney guy come out and do the first sweep before I had a fire, there was some mortar issues at the time that he fixed then, from then I bought a from the bottom drill attachment flexible chimney brush and clean it out myself...

That's what I was hoping for. I'd have to build the fireplace though. I've done a couple CMU wall so I think I could... I just need to make sure it's right so the house doesn't burn down.

 

[Roert42]

May be easier to get another zero clearance fireplace insert. I’m not super familiar with these kinds, but they supposedly can be put in right up against combustible material, no brick needed.

 

[franklin2]

Just be careful what you do. This all comes to light when you buy and sell a home and try to get insurance. I have ran into it several times, when I buy a new house and apply for house insurance, they want to see the fireplace and they want to see the ul listing for the wood stove or whatever you have. If it's not ul listed, then no insurance. This knocks out all the old neat antique woodstoves and also the homemade kit ones like are made out of 2 55 gallon barrels.

This last house I bought they wanted the fireplace inspected. It was built in 1923 out of stone, no liner or anything. No liner, no insurance. You can lie about it and block the chimney off, and get the insurance and then get a woodstove of your choice later and use the chimney, but if your house burns down and they find out it was because of the fireplace or something else related like a woodstove, you know they are not going to pay out. They have a note in your policy about a woodstove, backyard pool, etc and it does affect your premiums.

Lucky for me they said I needed a liner, but did not specify who was to install it. So I got a flexible stainless insulated liner off the internet and installed it myself. I found the paperwork for the stove I was going to use, and everything was good.

 

[ekrampitzjr]

Thanks to everyone for the info in this thread. It explains my situation.

My house was built in 1916 and the chimney is completely closed off. There is no sign of a fireplace ever being in any room, so the house was set up for woodstoves. The holes for a woodstove exhaust duct have been covered by paneling in every room that had a corner on the chimney, and the chimney not having a liner (or otherwise not meeting insurance requirements) probably explains why. The house was later set up with an oil-fired boiler and radiators for heat.