A fellow bought some firewood who is an inspector for a nearby city and he def knows a lot about buildings and such. I complained that my fireplace does not draft well sometimes. (Sometimes it does just fine.) He took one look over at my house and said he knew why. So, lol, I asked why. He said "Your chimney is not tall enough. It needs to be three feet above the ridge line." I found it hard to believe the contractor would have built it wrong but I googled it and within seconds, found sites that said exactly what he said. But... I looked at the house next door, which is a superior house to my house in build quality and is a few years younger, and the chimney there is even shorter. Mine is about 18 inches or so from the ridge line to the opening of the throat of the chimney and that one is maybe 16 inches. Like, today, it's overcast and this is when I notice another problem or I guess it's related, and that is offensive 'fireplace odor' in the room where the fireplace is. It's so offensive, I don't even want to use that room when it's like this. I assume it's barometric pressure. Lack of wind might also be a factor. FWIW, this room used to be a garage but was enclosed into a game room. But has no insulation. Brick home built on a slab. I have been contemplating remodeling this house, including this room, and including installing insulation, but the poor fireplace draft issue makes it an overall worse situation regarding keeping this 64 year old house. Anyone know anything about the chimney height? The chimney is brick. Could a mason just add on to the chimney and make it higher? Or remove all above the roof and do it over? Big job or easy?
I didn't check the code's, they've probably changed, but a masonry contractor (bricklayer) told me years ago that it should be 2' higher than anything 10' away (horizontally). This was for a fireplace and I can see that a modern woodstove might like a smaller flue and that might mean taller too. ?
3' above ridgeline might be some local code? but when I installed mine the code I found was when it breaks over the edge of the roof, than it must raise up high enough to get 10 feet away from the roof and than 3 feet above that mark. Same thing fuel rod stated above but 3 instead of 2. That is how I installed mine and it works but heck I'm just a dum blue collar
I remember that post now! I was wondering what "that guy" ever did with all the advice he sought and got. You can always have a metal hood fabricated to extend that chimney up by the 18" you need...heck, go a little taller even. There's gotta be shops down there, no? Even if you went with a masonry to pipe transition and then a length of pipe to extend it. Get it taken care of in a matter of a few minutes.
Very cool 'additions' available... would one need a mason or some jack of all trades type or just what kind of worker would I seek? That inspector guy has bought from me for several years and he seems to know good contractors.
We put a smaller wood stove in a well used 1952 fireplace, creosote smell at times could turn my stomach, it was when the stove was cold and draft came down the chimney. I bungled the block off plate and never replaced it.... Tried every soot cleaner in the world and tons of elbow grease in the fireplace but still stinky. We ended up repainting an older bigger stove and while putting that in I asked my husband to also paint the inside of the fireplace with the stove heat paint. It worked! and the matt black looks better than sooty red brick. Good luck with your chimney extension and you might try a block off plate too.
A roofer should be able to do it, but it appears just some tapcons into the masonary to secure the extension is all you would need if you felt like doing it yourself.
You could also try a local chimney sweep company. We had a leak that we thought was the roof and it ended up being the flashing around the chimney cap. The roofer that came to look at the problem was no help but the chimney sweep guy made a custom new cap with flashing and it solved the problem.
My shop stove was bad about back drafting. I finally ponied up and extended the pipe according to this. It’s worked well ever since even in strong winds. Chimney height rules: Height & Clearance Requirements for Chimneys - how high must a chimney be, what other chimney clearances are required for fire safety or function? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I have always heard the rule was above the highest point of the roof. That always seemed to make sense to me as well because that way you were getting wind across the flue no matter what way the wind was blowing.
If the fireplace chimney becomes an air supply for other fuel burners in the house or other air leaks in the house it will stink . Wasn't a problem when the oil boiler was running. My sister's house had this problem of the oil burner being a stink source any time she had a fire going in her wood stove and the wind blew from the north or was still. Seems to have gone away with a new oil boiler. (Same chimney(s) so I don't know what changed) The house had a LOT of air leaks until I sealed up all the leaks between her foundation and house -raised ranch with the proverbial front overhang and poorly sealed. After I got it all air sealed and tight was when she started complaining about wood stove smell in the house. There were a couple ceiling air leaks that I fixed, too. Really sealed the house up tight .
using this picture for reference, whenever we installed an insert etc we did 3 foot instead of the 2 foot measurement
Our weekend place is an A-Frame. The chimney is well below the peak. It’s also a 6” stove outlet, a 90 bend to a 8” through the wall, then another 90 degree to an outside 8” metal chimney. Oh, it’s also located on the finished lower level/basement. It’s not idea in the least. However, it works. We need to be mindful when lighting the stove because: It’s usually a cold stove, the direct vent propane heater is running along with the power vent propane hot water heater. I crack a window and usually crack the door. Once the draft reverses, we’re off to the races. Windy nights can be interesting, but those few and far between thankfully. We keep the air control on the stove shut when not in use.
To simplify the rule. Within 10 feet of the peak the flue ends 3 feet over the peak. 10 feet or more away from the peak the flue ends 2 feet above a 10 foot horizontal line. Keep it simple. what size flue does the fireplace have? Should be a 12x12 if it’s a standard fireplace opening 36w x 30h. Be that as it may just buy another flue of the correct size and stick it on top. Test it that way for awhile. You can glue it on with a couple dabs of caulking if you’re worried about it blowing off. They stay pretty damm good without tho. (Temporarily) If that works have a Mason extend the chimney. Don’t use a tin extender. Just a creosote machine. Even the pottery tops are not considered actual flues as far as height is concerned. They are decoration adorning the top. I’ve seen many short chimneys totally change attitudes with an extra flue put on top. That’s your first step. No offense to our southern brethren but I was on a FB masonry page with over 12,000 members. I’ve seen a whole lot of construction in the south. Many places have no building inspection at all. You’re at the mercy of the contractor and whatever subs he hires. That type of environment where no one is ever accountable breeds very poor results. slap a flue up there and see what happens. That’s what we always did with these complaints.
"Don’t use a tin extender. Just a creosote machine. Even the pottery tops are not considered actual flues as far as height is concerned. They are decoration adorning the top." I would agree with that, use a length of chimney pipe, "you can put lipstick on a pig but its still a pig".
To add to jo191145 comments about correct size. My dad's chimney had draft issues. One chimney with three flues. One for furnace, basement fireplace, upstairs fireplace. All three were 8x12. When the upstairs one was burning it would smoke often. Shouldve been a 12x12 size. General rule of thumb is the shorter the chimney overall length, the larger the flue. He knew that and didnt wanna stick the extra section on top and the basement fireplace was used for heat.
