Expert: James Ball - 4/27/2009

Question
A coal or small-log brick fireplace (not used)in middle of 1917 house with a small clean out grate in the basement.Last spring big piles of dirt (ground soil and a broken saucer from the 40's)filled the opening.I used a hoe and scraped about seven 5 gallon buckets out before I quit.WHERE IS IT COMING FROM? And a side question,
the house has one brick chimney on the outside of the house
with connection to the furnace also in basement,but there does'nt seem to be any connection to the fireplace for the smoke.I used the fireplace a couple times each year prior to 1994 and it had great draft.Where did it go? There is not any other chimneys on the roof.Also there a big plate size opening in the basement part of the ouside chimney that is just open air,can the carbon monoxide from the furnace ductwork (which is just a few feet above it) actually be escaping? In 1998 the ductwork and furnace were replaced ,rusted out!I almost died from sleeping in the room above it.And have not been completely healthy since.I would recognize those headaches immediately!,so
I don't feel threatened.Recent storms have knocked a bunch of bricks off the top of chimney and I want the whole thing fixed correctly.Supposely the new ductwork in 1998
was done by pros,but why would they leave the open hole underneath?
thanks.

Answer
Hello Debra, hard to say what you are "hoeing" out of that clean out
you talk about "1 fireplace in the middle of house" and "1 brick chimney on the out side of the house", I do not know where that furnace or fireplace exhaust is going so 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