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Expert: - 1/22/2008


Question
We moved into our townhouse in early 2006 and our fireplace has been driving us crazy ever since.  The fireplace is on the basement level and in the corner because our neighbors townhouse is a mirror image of ours and the chimney houses both our flues.  Right away we started noticing that our basement would fill with smoke whenever our neighbor had a fire.  We had already had a chimney sweep out to clean and cap the fireplace and hadn't burnt ours yet.  When we told our neighbor of our issue, he was pissed that we wanted him to put out his fire, said there was nothing wrong with his fireplace, and that we needed fireplace doors.  We had a chimney guy back out, and he had put a damper at the top of our chimney with a pull at the bottom.  After this we still had some smoke come in so we bought fireplace doors as well.  This seemed to make the situation bearable until Saturday night, when the smell of smoke woke me up on the third floor and our whole house was full of smoke.  In all of our time here, we have never had a fire ourselves because of being fed up with the darned thing, but decided to tonight in order to see if we would return the favor and see if we put the neighbor's through what they put us through.  I read to wad up newspaper, light it, and hold it up the flue to make sure the fireplace smoke would get drawn up instead of back in your house.  We did that, but even still, our attempt at making a fire only filled our own home with smoke...again.  What should we do!  We would be content to never used the thing, but our neighbors keep having fires and smoking us out!

Answer
Kerri,

I would recommend having a qualified inspector perform a complete NFPA-211, level II inspection of the system. This will include both you and your neighbors flue systems but it will determine the problem. It may be a simple cross-over draft issue or something more serious. in any event, "Google" fireplace inspections and be certain to express the need for an NFPA-211, level II inspection. Good luck.

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Randy Brooks

Expertise

Inspection of Masonry, Pre-cast Tilt-up, and Factory Built Fireplaces as well as Free Standing & Insert, Gas, and Wood Appliances. We also provide Hearth Fire Loss Investigations, Litigation Support, Consulting Services, Flue Sweeping, Installation and Repair. Additionally, I’ve been a chimney sweep for 23 years, service and install hearth appliances as well as being recognized by the Superior Court of California as an expert witness.

Experience

Brooks Chimney Sweeping Since 1989 Ojai, CA Owner / President www.brooks-hearth.com

Organizations
NCSG, MEMBER,(National Chimney Sweep Guild), Member since 1990, Board of Directors representing Region 6, (CA, NV, AZ, UT, OR, WA, ID, WY, MT, AK and HI,) 2004-2011, ethics committee chair, 2004-2005, executive committee member, Vice President, 2006-2008, President, 2008-2011. CSIA, BOD (Chimney Safety Institute of America,) Board of Directors, ethics committee chair, 2004-2005, executive committee member, Secretary, 2005-2006, Vice President, 2006-2008, President, 2008-2011. HPBA, MEMBER, (Hearth, Patio, & BBQ Association,) since 2002. NFPA Member, (National Fire Protection Association) Since 2009. Technical Committee member for the 211 Standard.

Education/Credentials
California State Licensed Contractor, C61-D34, #750710. http://www2.cslb.ca.gov C.S.I.A., (Chimney Safety Institute of America,) Certified Chimney Sweep, #2580. Held since 1990 re-certified in ‘93, ‘96, ‘99, ‘02, ‘05, '08,'11. http://www.csia.org F.I.R.E. (Fireplace Investigation, Research & Education Service,) Certified Inspector, #FP-006. Held since 2000, re-certified in ’03, ‘06. http://www.f-i-r-e-service.com Fireplace Investigation, Research & Education Service,) Advance Expert Consulting & Witness, certificate, ’05 N.F.I. (National Fireplace Institute,) Certified Gas & Wood-Burning Specialist, #133851. Held since 2002, re-certified in '05,‘08. http://nficertified.org

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