Expert: James Ball - 1/16/2010

Question
We are renting and I successfully built a fire in the wood burning fire place the night before last, temporarily opening a door nearby to get the draft going in the right direction. All was well, and I left the damper open till morning when I shoveled out all ashes and removed them from the house before closing the damper. All was still well until a few hours later when the smoke smell began to permeate the house only on the floor with the fireplace. My eyes and nose are burning right now from the smell. Why does that happen, will it happen every time(it happened one other time a well), and what can we do to avoid it? The landlord said he had the chimney checked before we moved in last Sept and it was fine. We have only had these two fires.  

Answer
Hello Terry, What is happening is you are getting Negative Pressure in your home (house stack effect) that is hot air rising in your home (and getting out through the attic vents, doors, lights, another fireplace (is it closed?)) your house is a better chimney than your chimney. Also kitchen/bathroom exhaust fans, clothes dryers, Radon systems and the boiler/furnace all take house air out of the house (mechanical negative pressure) your house needs make up air, perhaps an open window in the basement? Or stop the air from getting out the attic and other area’s.
They make a top mount damper that closes the chimney flue off (no air moves up or down)
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.
James