Expert: James Ball - 1/28/2009

Question
hi.my sitting room is relativley small and so should be easy to heat but its not.I have an open fireplace. The house is brand new and there is a vent in the wall and its not blocked.The draught in under the door makes a loud whistle so I put a draught excluder on the door. Now the room is filling with smoke and its impossible to heat and there are soot marks everywhere, the vent and around the spotlights in the ceiling. please help

Answer
Hello Dave, It is hard to understand the problem from what your describe but It might be negative pressure, I would have a local Certified Chimney Sweep (www.csia.org, there you can look up by zip code to find one near you) take a first hand look at what you have they should be able to help.
James