Quote:
Originally Posted by dad911
How old is it? (When was house built?)
Mortar joints ok in the firebox? (try to gouge/pry cement with an old screwdriver)
If the cement it good, Id be less inclined to worry.
I have demo'd a few homes, and it's scary to find charred dry wood against the fireplace.
|
The house is 60y old, the fireplace looks a lot more recent. The grout is cracked only in a couple locations in the firebox floor but it looks minor. I'd redo that, of course, and the rain cover...
the bit that I found overkill is the chimney itself which consists of tubes of clay (like pipeline sections) stacked on one another with joins. Those joints were dirty from old buns but not cracked or missing. He cleaned them. Burning lightweight duraflame logs (one at a time) seemed highly unlikely to cause any issues to me. But at this point I like the idea of a no-vent gas insert (open) that can use the existing fireplace as is.... (well I'd still recaulk the one or 2 grout cracks and add a new rain cap). We have so many "spare the air" days anyway and I understand wood burning is not the healthiest thing anyway for inside air quality...