Hi all. First off, I am completely new to this whole area and have no idea what the correct terminology is so please bear with me. I bought my house 2 years ago and I have a fireplace with a woodburning insert. I used it a couple of times last year but it didn't put off much heat. I began investigating this a few days ago and this is what I'm working with:
It looks like when the woodburner was installed, they removed the damper and ran 6" pipe all the way up the chimney. Where the chimney tapers in, it looks like the area surrounding the pipe was stuffed with fiberglass insulation. (I've had a chinmey sweep out and he gave me the ok that the whole thing was safe to use). My problem is that there is 36" X 24" cavity that extends about 15 feet above my wood stove and the heat is just going straight up and dissipating. Also, I've noticed a pretty decent draft coming down out of the thing. I need some way to seal off the chimney around the pipe so the heat will stay in the room. I can't put a damper back in because of the pipe. I was looking at using cement board to construct some sort of shield or barrier but I can't seem to find anything suitable. I know Hardibacker and Durock next-gen is out, is there anything else I can use?
It looks like when the woodburner was installed, they removed the damper and ran 6" pipe all the way up the chimney. Where the chimney tapers in, it looks like the area surrounding the pipe was stuffed with fiberglass insulation. (I've had a chinmey sweep out and he gave me the ok that the whole thing was safe to use). My problem is that there is 36" X 24" cavity that extends about 15 feet above my wood stove and the heat is just going straight up and dissipating. Also, I've noticed a pretty decent draft coming down out of the thing. I need some way to seal off the chimney around the pipe so the heat will stay in the room. I can't put a damper back in because of the pipe. I was looking at using cement board to construct some sort of shield or barrier but I can't seem to find anything suitable. I know Hardibacker and Durock next-gen is out, is there anything else I can use?