Expert: James Ball - 2/21/2011

Question
I just bought a house built in 1983, it has a prefab fireplace, every time I use it I noticed wood smoke smell in the house and burning of the eyes. I inspected the fireplace I noticed that the metal hood that held the damper had deteriorated around the damper and some of the smoke was entering the house through the holes in the metal, my fireplace also has a blower on the bottom so when the blower is on it was worse. My question is, is there any kind of epoxy or other material I can use to repair the holes. I can't find a manufactures model or serial number to buy replacement parts.    Thank You

Joe

Answer
Hello Joe, it sounds like that unit has deteriorated beyond repair and if so the whole system will have to be replaced, (fireplace, and chimney) as they can not be repaired, 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