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Saving the fire place.

831 Views 8 Replies 4 Participants Last post by  mrcaptainbob
Was very pleased with the fireplace when we moved in here. But dismayed when we tried to use it. Turned out the flu damper was mortared shut. From the outside. By cutting some access holes through what would be the outside chimney surround I found there was a chimney there at one time. And found the mortar nicely slathered over where the smoke box should be. Apparently there was never any use of fire brick in the past. At one time it burned natural wood, but now has gas logs. We have yet to use them ourselves. No venting of gas logs just seems like not a good idea to me. (This may be a long post...) I want to line the fire place with fire brick, of coarse, but need to (re)construct the smoke box and chimney. Where can I dig up dimensions for a smoke box that's appropriately sized for this rather large and nice looking fire place? Chimney building will be the next level of concern.
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Good suggestions....

Not all that interested in it being a natural log fireplace. Maybe I should for somebody in the future. That way it would be dual use. As for it having an outside vent...I found no openings to the outside. Inlet or outlet.
Vent free logs....

I don't know, Technow. How can I tell? Is there a label or tag on the burner assembly?
Fireplace logs....

The 'logs' are a pretty delicate material. They look like smallish branches between 1.5 and two inches diameter. I remember seeing a tag on the floor in there when we first moved in. I'll check it today and report back.
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