She called crying about 15 minutes after we started the fire. Within 10 minutes we had put it out.
New Wood Fireplace and Now Angry Neighbour
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I could buy her a hepa filter. Great idea. Or at least suggest it to her as a partial solution. I am going to ask the installer about a filter. As for the wind, it is virtually ALWAYS towards her house. Since the fireplace was specially ordered and just installed, there is less than a zero chance my hubby would consider converting it. I wouldn’t even dare to suggest it. He’d laugh and think I was nuts.
If you are in code, and doing everything correct, then let your neighbor call the fire department. And let the fire department then explain to her you are doing nothing wrong (and maybe bill her for the cost of a false report). Sadly, it may take this "upper" authority to convince her. You and her back and forth will clearly never convince her. (Edit: what @cygnus posted 10 minutes before me....)
I know it sounds brutal.... And even that may not work for a neighbor unwilling to compromise.
I suggest this because been there... done that... and that is what it took for us**. I can only hope it works for you.
But be aware, some neighbors will be completely unreasonable and egocentric. And even with the fire department approval what you are doing is okay, they may settle for nothing less than demanding you still not heat by wood at all. Which means you can still heat by wood if you follow the law in your area. And simply need to accept your neighbor is going to hate you for it. Worst case scenario. You may have to live with it.
Hope this helps.
** Weird side note -- my wife was at a government office and she realized our neighbor was there also, asking if the office could "adjust" things so we were not code compliant... Yes, the neighbor actually tried to get the local government to adjust our legal status. Of course the office said they could not do this. Only shows how some people can go to some significant extremes......
Ctwoodtick
Minister of Fire
Certainly it’s up to you to what you prefer. After all, it’s your situation.
Personally I think accommodating her every need is only making things worse (the leaves story- yikes). You spent good money and are working towards the best operation of the fireplace possible.
If it’s not the fireplace, she probably go back to complaining about the leaves again. Sorry, but this is not winnable. I’d just live your life and try to ignore. She sounds like a bit of a bully.
She will hate me. And I will feel responsible for making her final years in the house she’s lived in for 15 years miserable. That’s a me problem, but there it is. I can’t believe the luck of your wife to actually witness this. Thankfully, this lady isn’t that cunning. At least I hope so…
This was exactly the kind of kindling we used. Your pile is a lot bigger. I think we started with 4-5 pieces. We wanted to go low and slow since it was the very FIRST fire we ever had and we didn’t know what to expect.if I was going to light it this is how much kindling I would used. Notice it’s split small I’d have 4 smaller splits under it cross crossed log cabin style. And I’d use one of these or a weed burner.
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Other thought could you get a small solo stove in there??
View attachment 318150
Ctwoodtick
Minister of Fire
whatyousmokin
Member
" She pays a team of people to come rake her extensive forest of all the leaves (takes a team of three about 3 full days as the side of her house is a groomed forest with paths). She called me a few days later asking me to please take care of my lawn now because the wind was taking my leaves over to her side. Of course we did. We didn’t want to upset her further. This is who I’m dealing with (and drink lemonade with). This isn’t ending well. GAH."
WOW. 😵😵
But
I would love to have a neighbor like you that tries to be a "good neighbor". But this, and asking you to not burn in your fireplace is beyond ridiculous of what she expects from you, not to mention the way she goes about it. . I have no suggestions, just offering you my sympathies of having such a difficult neighbor.
WOW. 😵😵
But
I would love to have a neighbor like you that tries to be a "good neighbor". But this, and asking you to not burn in your fireplace is beyond ridiculous of what she expects from you, not to mention the way she goes about it. . I have no suggestions, just offering you my sympathies of having such a difficult neighbor.I personally haven’t measured the pipe length but I saw the installers measuring and re-measuring when they were here speccing everything out. They even built a little “bench” for the main part of the fireplace to sit in on at the correct height from the floor (code) so measurements were taken using the actual fireplace. The stack rises at least 10 feet above my roof line. But you’re right. When they come to meet with us, I am going to have the manual ready and ask about that number. Finally, I am going to buy one or two of those compressed logs for the next fire to start with. Great idea.
I likely came on looking for that very thing—sympathy. I think I already knew at the outset, deep down, that this was going to end badly. However, I have picked up several excellent suggestions. If at the end of the day, I’ve personally tried everything to minimize the disturbance, I will rest a little easier. Not fully—I still won’t like knowing she is upset—but easier. After all, I have to live with hubby who is less caring about her feelings." She pays a team of people to come rake her extensive forest of all the leaves (takes a team of three about 3 full days as the side of her house is a groomed forest with paths). She called me a few days later asking me to please take care of my lawn now because the wind was taking my leaves over to her side. Of course we did. We didn’t want to upset her further. This is who I’m dealing with (and drink lemonade with). This isn’t ending well. GAH."
WOW. 😵😵
But
Woodsplitter67
Minister of Fire
This is one of the things I feel your doing wrong.. your neighbor is grooming you. She is going to keep calling and making you feel bad and you reward her every time by putting out the fire. You have tough her .. just call me and Ill.put it out..Me personally I wouldn't be buying into this. Great fences make great neighbors. What your doing on your property and in your house is not the concern of others.. F$CK HER..
Not sure where you live exactly around Ottawa but I lived downtown and then also out in the rural area and always burned wood. So do a lot of people in the rural communities all round Ottawa. She sounds like a “high maintenance” neighbour and am sorry you are experiencing this. I know we would all like to live in harmony with our neighbours but alas there will always be one or more that you can do nothing to please them. This is one of the primary reasons I always live on acreage, I need the space and dislike neighbour problems immensely. Far too stressful for me.
Suggestions already provided and a key one is dry wood so look around for any place selling kiln dried firewood if you can. It will come at a price but will let off less smoke. Also based on experience when I lived there, the colder it gets, the better draft and therefore smokes rises higher above homes. November is one of those months you can’t count on good cold crisp air. Instead it is usually cool/cold with a lot of moisture in the air and unpredictable weather from rain, wind, snow, sleet and everything else you can think of. I say burn away as you wish and try to use dry firewood, it is the best you can do.
Suggestions already provided and a key one is dry wood so look around for any place selling kiln dried firewood if you can. It will come at a price but will let off less smoke. Also based on experience when I lived there, the colder it gets, the better draft and therefore smokes rises higher above homes. November is one of those months you can’t count on good cold crisp air. Instead it is usually cool/cold with a lot of moisture in the air and unpredictable weather from rain, wind, snow, sleet and everything else you can think of. I say burn away as you wish and try to use dry firewood, it is the best you can do.
Mom, she is just short of throwing a tantrum. She can shower when you're not using your fireplace. She can also turn off her air exchanger when you are. She is only trying to be the queen of your neighborhood. I moved into a very rural area to not have to deal with BS like this.
Try and accommodate her a little more but, when she continues to be selfish, well, I'd tell her to go pound sand.
Try and accommodate her a little more but, when she continues to be selfish, well, I'd tell her to go pound sand.
Ctwoodtick
Minister of Fire
at her age, you actually may be dealing with some Alzheimer’s behavior. The emotions she has and whatnot. You can’t do anything about it except contact authorities if it becomes a safety concern. Trying to placate her would literally be destructive to her and yourself.
If not Alzheimer’s- then she has a serious personality problem and I would not want to deal with her in any manner anyhow.
Burn on.
If not Alzheimer’s- then she has a serious personality problem and I would not want to deal with her in any manner anyhow.
Burn on.
There’s your problem: paper. No paper! Forget 20% moisture wood in a fireplace as it’s still too wet, it better be far dryer than 20%….more like <15%…large wood on bottom with air gaps, with successively smaller wood and kindling to the top. Go to hardware store and get a small hand block plane and have your husband make you up some thin wood shavings from a split of firewood. Make a bag full of them. Place and handful or three on top of your wood in stove and light it. The dryer your wood the less wood you use because it burns hotter and you don’t have to boil any water out of it.
Yep…we owe the elderly a great deal, but not to the degree they get cranky trying to tell me what I can and cannot do on my own property after spending money I worked hard to earn. Yes, work hard to get a smoke free fire. Also know you can’t please everyone and after trying to please someone you’ll often find it’s not about them being pleased, it’s about them being controlling over you.
I’d have the installers come back and install a nice Lopi, Regency, or Pacific Energy wood stove with secondary air tubes…better yet…a Woodstock soapstone stove…they’re nice to look at, create a beautiful fire to watch and they have a catalyst for when not a lot of heat is called for, and a light show isn’t needed, and they’ll burn all the smoke.
Ashful
Minister of Fire
I totally understand. As much as it's easy to play the jerk from where I'm sitting, I'd feel much the same as you do now, if I were in your shoes. I really like @EatenByLimestone's suggesting of hosting a neighborhood get-together, having that fire going, and giving everyone a chance to compliment what you've done within her earshot. I think that will go a long way toward smoothing things over for this neighbor, who is only looking at things from her side now.
I also liked the suggestion of possibly extending the chimney just a few feet higher, to see if it helps. You could do this in a very temporary way with a piece of cheap stove pipe (your installer likely has some used pipe laying in their shop), and doing a visual check to see where the smoke goes. If successful, then look at a permanent way to extend the chimney a few more feet.
Do you have a fresh air inlet on this fireplace? I seem to remember one of the fireplaces on my old house, the one with the shortest chimney, really benefitted from this, in terms of ensuring the smoke went as high as possible off the chimney, before moving laterally toward a neighbor. The hotter those gasses, the farther the plume will climb before the wind takes toward the neighbor.
Another thing I thought of is to call the local borough building (or equivalent in your area) and explain your situation. Assuming you did everything to code, got permits etc. They may already have a laundry list of complaints from this lady and know her well and might be able to give you advice. It sounds like based on your leaf story, and the fact that you just moved in a few years ago, the other neighbor may have given up and left knowing she was an issue but didn't mention it.
Ashful
Minister of Fire
Why would they change out from what they wanted, and paid a lot of money for, then have to pay a lot more money for especially since it wouldn't change anything? The neighbor would still have a problem with it. That makes absolutely no sense to me.
LOL well, I was in a situation where I've warned people about the HOA and certain rules they are strict about but nothing very specific other than some 'getting to know your neighbor' info that I provided.Would you?
My mom is one of these crabby ladies. It's more of a mental issue of controlling your surroundings than anything else. IE, the faint scent of fuel walking by my classic cars can make her "dizzy" or a neighbor has a fire makes it "smoky"
Really, no cure for the problem.
Really, no cure for the problem.
It was mentioned as an alternative, just like leaving the neighborhood is an alternative and because a fireplace smokes more than a good stove by its nature. You can’t get a secondary burn to burn smoke in a fireplace (although there are devices made to try) like you can in a modern stove…heck you can get secondary burn in an old pre-EPA stove if you get it hot enough and don’t mind seeing the stove go totally nuclear on you…and it will burn much of the smoke.
Make some concessions to attempt satisfying her, then burn the heck out it. It’s not like the OP is burning wet wood and sending enormous amounts of smoke her way.
I’ll guarantee you that old woman will complain if she sees steam coming out of the chimney and smells nothing.
Do your due diligence to try and appease her, then burn it and proceed with your life.
EbS-P
Minister of Fire
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