Wood burning fireplace odor, I'm knocking it down!

[laxmom57]

I hope someone can help me. We have spent many hundreds of dollars trying to deal with the odor that comes from our wood burning fireplace. We have had the flue raised. Had the chimney cleaned twice. I have bought every product known to man in stores and over the internet. We have had a roman helmet installed on the top. We just had a cap put on the top. We already have custom made fireplace doors (glass). None of this has helped.

We just moved into this house 7 months ago. It was built 8 years ago and we have been told it was "tight". We cannot turn on a fan in the house without smelling the fireplace. We have gone through 7 different companies trying to help us to no avail.

I am seriously considering knocking down the entire fireplace from the outside in and starting over. Putting in a propane or pellet system.

Does anyone have ANY advice for me? If I do decide to knock it down and have it rebuilt, putting in a propane insert, what kind of money, total, are we talking about. I can't get anyone to give me an estimate.

I live in Maryland and we are seriously at our wits end. We cannot spend any time in our family room and this is the heart of our house.

Please help!

 

[babalu87]

Pictures are needed to make an assessment of your situation.

 

[laxmom57]

Pictures of the inside of the fireplace? The outside? Sorry to sound so dim but I am being overwhelmed with odor as we speak, I think my brain if fried!

Thanks for your help. Let me know what kind of pictures and I will take them and post....

Forgot to mention that we also had the outside of the fireplace sealed.

Thanks!

 

[elkimmeg]

Want to bet here I bet tha the chimney has more than one flue and that at the base there is a common ash dump cleanout area and that it is not compartmentized and each flue separated by a solid 4" masonry wyth?

 

[Highbeam]

Does it smell whether it is being burnt or not?

New masonry chimneys are a 5-10k$ proposition and even higher with fancy touches or mulitple flues. Demolishing the old chimney would be silly if you were just going to put another one up.

Short term: If you can't stand the odor and aren't burning the fireplace then seal the top, shut the damper, and mask over the fireplace. No kidding, a sheet of plywood and sealed with foam until you can resolve the issue.

Have you confirmed that the chimney is backdrafting by a method such as setting a candle on the hearth?

Pictures of the actual fireplace, looking up at the closed flue plate, the outside chimney, and the cap.

Have any of the 7 contractors suggested adding a forced make up air system which activates whenever your bathroom fans, range vent fans, or other whole house fans operate. The make up air system will work to equalize the pressure in your tight home to prevent the range hood fan from sucking air down the chimney.

 

[jjbaer]

Want to bet here I bet tha the chimney has more than one flue and that at the base there is a common ash dump cleanout area and that it is not compartmentized and each flue separated by a solid 4" masonry wyth?

I concur with Elk....a fan pulls air from the path of least resistance...if you've already blocked the top of the chimney, then there are only two other possibilities: 1) it's still leaking from the top of the chimney and/or 2) there's an open pathway elsewhere (ash cleanout as Elk said) or another flue or a hole in the chimney flue tile that is somehow exposed to the outside and therefore allowing a draft to enter.

If you're really sealed at the top and there are no other open pathways, then your fans should pull air from other paths of least resistance and not from the fireplace.

Do as someone else here suggested...put a candle or incense stick in front of the hearth opening and see if the flame or smoke is being drawn towards where the fan is operating from.

 

[begreen]

Is the chimney on an exterior or interior wall?

 

[MountainStoveGuy]

if your going to put in a insert, then why go to the trouble of nocking down the chimney. Inserts require the use of your exiting chimney and the firebox. You simply install the insert in the fireplace and run the two liners down to the appliance.. you would have two liners for nat gas or propane, or one liner for pellet. A dirct vent fireplace insert or pellet insert would work well in a negative pressure area like your describing.

 

[webbie]

Pictures of the inside of the fireplace? The outside? Sorry to sound so dim but I am being overwhelmed with odor as we speak, I think my brain if fried!

Thanks for your help. Let me know what kind of pictures and I will take them and post....

Forgot to mention that we also had the outside of the fireplace sealed.

Thanks!

Yes, how many flues are in the chimney? Does it serve another unit (furnance, etc. on different floor)?
You can post pics here....right in your post!

Has the unit ever had a stove in it, or always been an open fireplace?

 

[stoveguy2esw]

im just bouncing this one back to the top , still waiting on the pictures