Good morning,
Let me start with a little background and then my issue and question. We own a 1955 one story brick ranch on a slab 30 minutes east of Cleveland, Oh. It has a masonry chimney with 3 flues each being clay flue lined. The middle flue is for a wood burning open fireplace the other is for our boiler (steam heat) and the other is not used.
We started burning wood in it last year for the first time. Had it inspected and just started burning a few times during the week. No issues with burning wood in it and everything seemed to work well. I started visiting this forum then gaining some knowledge and realized my chimney inspection was not very thorough.
So, this summer I figured I would just sweep my own chimney and them try and do a thorough inspection. So, after reading multiple posts on this site and others I grew a little neurotic about creosote and I have been constantly checking my chimney for it. Well, I just swept it yesterday and it was not very dirty at all which makes sense I guess since we only use it occasionally and it is not a source of heat.
So, on to my issue. After researching how to clean a chimney, I gathered that the smoke chamber is often overlooked and important to clean. So, I found I could get my arm easily through the damper and just clean the smoke shelf walls with a wire grill brush (I did the rest of the chimney with a standard square chimney brush and poles). As I was cleaning the smoke chamber with this brush I knocked off what appears to me some mortar in the corner. Also, after more examination and putting my cell phone on a pole and videoing, there was another missing piece of motar in another corner of the smoke chamber. This is why I don't think my chimney inspector was any good but I probably could have just settled down over the creosote panicking and just burned another year.
Anyways, just looking for some advice on how to fix and if this is a "code red" issue. It appears my smoke chamber is parged but the corners look a little sloppy so it may have been touched up at a later date. Again, I can get my arm into the smoke chamber pretty easily so I was thinking of just putting some fireplace mortar on a trowel and filling in the gaps/holes.
The one trouble spot is right below where the smoke chamber merges into the flue so it a little challenging to get a pic.
So, any advice on how to fix and the urgency here? Again, only burn wood for fun and not for heat. Really, just something to do in the winter but I really enjoy building fires and relaxing by it.
Oh yeah, and the fireplace flue is a 10 inch square flue, if that matters.
I apologize for the long post but wanted to make sure to cover everything so hopefully I can get some guidance.
Thanks!
Let me start with a little background and then my issue and question. We own a 1955 one story brick ranch on a slab 30 minutes east of Cleveland, Oh. It has a masonry chimney with 3 flues each being clay flue lined. The middle flue is for a wood burning open fireplace the other is for our boiler (steam heat) and the other is not used.
We started burning wood in it last year for the first time. Had it inspected and just started burning a few times during the week. No issues with burning wood in it and everything seemed to work well. I started visiting this forum then gaining some knowledge and realized my chimney inspection was not very thorough.
So, this summer I figured I would just sweep my own chimney and them try and do a thorough inspection. So, after reading multiple posts on this site and others I grew a little neurotic about creosote and I have been constantly checking my chimney for it. Well, I just swept it yesterday and it was not very dirty at all which makes sense I guess since we only use it occasionally and it is not a source of heat.
So, on to my issue. After researching how to clean a chimney, I gathered that the smoke chamber is often overlooked and important to clean. So, I found I could get my arm easily through the damper and just clean the smoke shelf walls with a wire grill brush (I did the rest of the chimney with a standard square chimney brush and poles). As I was cleaning the smoke chamber with this brush I knocked off what appears to me some mortar in the corner. Also, after more examination and putting my cell phone on a pole and videoing, there was another missing piece of motar in another corner of the smoke chamber. This is why I don't think my chimney inspector was any good but I probably could have just settled down over the creosote panicking and just burned another year.
Anyways, just looking for some advice on how to fix and if this is a "code red" issue. It appears my smoke chamber is parged but the corners look a little sloppy so it may have been touched up at a later date. Again, I can get my arm into the smoke chamber pretty easily so I was thinking of just putting some fireplace mortar on a trowel and filling in the gaps/holes.
The one trouble spot is right below where the smoke chamber merges into the flue so it a little challenging to get a pic.
So, any advice on how to fix and the urgency here? Again, only burn wood for fun and not for heat. Really, just something to do in the winter but I really enjoy building fires and relaxing by it.
Oh yeah, and the fireplace flue is a 10 inch square flue, if that matters.
I apologize for the long post but wanted to make sure to cover everything so hopefully I can get some guidance.
Thanks!
