Expert: Bart Ogden - 10/24/2008

Question
A couple of years ago I bought this 115 year old house in north Alabama. It's a nice size house with a decent crawl space where you can see the chimneys from the two coal burning and the single wood fireplace start from the ground and go up. From the outside, the main chimney looks like flat stone but is actually (I think) concrete just made to look that way to re-enforce the structure from the outside. It has what I believe is vent-free gas log insert so the chimney really serves no purpose other than letting a cold breeze in. The main problem is... I started taking the walls down to clean up the rough cut sawmill lumber and put it back up for a better look (115 y/o pine). When I got to the fireplace wall, I started pulling down the boards on the sides and then worked my way to the center. There I found not only previous water damage to the *true* 4x6 beams but the biggest black spider I've ever seen that scared me clean off my ladder. That's when I noticed that the brick front of the chimney was sloping toward the inside just a little. There are several places where there are deep recesses and holes where mortar should be and some places even, where the bricks are laying on top of one another. I don't think it will collapse in the immediate future, but having it fixed at this point is just not even close to possible. Is there anything I can use or do to maybe fill some of the holes and possibly give it a little more re-enforcement to give me peace of mind that it's less likely to come down until such a time that it's feasible to get someone out here that can actually correct the problem or possible even remove the whole thing? I have a vent-free gas log (came with the house) that I would hate to loose. Speaking of that, do you know of anything that I can put between the outside of the log insert and the brick mantle to block this 6 knot wind blowing in around this insert? I did notice between the wood mantle and the brick surround, the original installer laid a wide strip of asbestos that needs to be replaced too. Thank you for your help,
Steven

Answer
Hi Steven,

You need to have a Level 2 or Level 3 chimney inspection completed ASAP.

You probably shouldn't do any repairs until this is completed as you might end up covering up areas that need inspected with the patches, but I'll leave that decision up to you.

I recommend you contact a local CSIA Certified Chimney Sweep to do the inspection.

You can find a CSIA Certified Chimney Sweep at www.csia.org.

Asbestos should be removed by an licensed asbestor removal firm.  See you local telephone directory for finding that contractor.

Nothing combustible should be installed in the area behind the mantel to block the air infiltration.  The CSIA Certified Chimney Sweep should be able to advise you on this particular problem as well.

Thanks for using AllExperts.Com and good luck with your project.

Sincerely,
A . Bart Ogden, President
Home Safe Hearth & Chimney, Inc.
Wichita, KS
Voice  316-265-9828
Fax  316-265-9890
www.HomeSafeKS.com

CSIA Certified Chimney Sweep #2653
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