Hi!
My house has an old fireplace. I think it's a masonry one, but not sure, it's old. It has a brick chimney on the exterior, and a brick floor inside it. There is one brick missing in the back of the floor, presumably to the ash box, it has a metal cover that has "Superior Fireplace, Pat.# ..." inscribed on it. I can't read the numbers. The walls inside are metal. Looking upwards, there are 4 holes that go up the chimney from the firebox. There is a lever for airflow, presumably. I have the lever closed and the holes all blocked with insulation, because we do not use the fireplace for burning anything.
Previous owners covered the outside base of the chimney with planters, so there is no access to the ash cleanout outside. At least I think that's what happened.
The fireplace has a raised stone hearth with 6 vertical slit openings on each side, near the floor. We are on a slab foundation, house built in 1964.
Something has gotten in there...my dog is indicating that a rodent of some sort is living in the base of the hearth. We've tried luring it out to catch it, no luck thus far. We've looked outside for other openings that might allow a creature in - haven't found any. My dog only gets excited about the creature at night - so it seems to leave during the day. We work from home, and haven't seen anything crawling about nor any mouse poop, etc. How could it be getting in? Any other thoughts?
Thank you all who bother looking at this....
My house has an old fireplace. I think it's a masonry one, but not sure, it's old. It has a brick chimney on the exterior, and a brick floor inside it. There is one brick missing in the back of the floor, presumably to the ash box, it has a metal cover that has "Superior Fireplace, Pat.# ..." inscribed on it. I can't read the numbers. The walls inside are metal. Looking upwards, there are 4 holes that go up the chimney from the firebox. There is a lever for airflow, presumably. I have the lever closed and the holes all blocked with insulation, because we do not use the fireplace for burning anything.
Previous owners covered the outside base of the chimney with planters, so there is no access to the ash cleanout outside. At least I think that's what happened.
The fireplace has a raised stone hearth with 6 vertical slit openings on each side, near the floor. We are on a slab foundation, house built in 1964.
Something has gotten in there...my dog is indicating that a rodent of some sort is living in the base of the hearth. We've tried luring it out to catch it, no luck thus far. We've looked outside for other openings that might allow a creature in - haven't found any. My dog only gets excited about the creature at night - so it seems to leave during the day. We work from home, and haven't seen anything crawling about nor any mouse poop, etc. How could it be getting in? Any other thoughts?
Thank you all who bother looking at this....
