Expert: James Ball - 3/16/2010

Question
I have an 20 year old never finished house that we are finishing with a chimney made of brick and rock, not an insert,and on each side there are 7"x 7" square openings they chamber back around and behind the chimney then up and out through square openings with rock slats, chambers are made of motor and brick.  It is wired for blowers.  The problem is I can't find any.  I need some that will fit in the opening and be powerful enough to send the air around and up.  Fireplace opening is 4.5 feet wide by 3 feet tall.  Do you know where I can find these blowers?  Also in the fireplace I notice some of the pale yellow fire bricks are missing their grout or morter what ever that is called.  Can I regrount/morter, and where do I find that stuff.

Answer
Hello Kristin, the blowers you should be able to get from a local wood stove store, and the brick/mortar from a stone/cement supplier.
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.
Hope this helps
James