A Surprise In The Fireplace

Yesterday, we saw snow coming down for the first time this season. It didn’t stick around by any means, but it’s getting cold outside and I’m wondering if we’ll see much of a fall. The Big Man decided that since we had our first snow, that we should have our first fire in the fireplace too.

This summer, we had a chimney inspector come check out our chimney, because, well I don’t think it had ever been inspected in it’s life. We found out it experienced a few chimney fires, and some parts were in need of replacing. Thankfully, it wasn’t anything too major. We had it fixed and our pocketbooks were still happy.

Back to last night’s fire.

He got the fire going, closed the doors, and smoke started building up. Soon, there was smoke leaking into the house. What in the world?! We started opening windows and opened the front door. Gotta love that the wind dies down by night time. It got to the point where the Big Man just needed to open the doors and throw water on whatever was left.

Obviously, the smoke wasn’t able to go up and out. Check the damper. Almost impossible to move. (That’s saying a lot when the Big Man can’t budge it.) Once the smoke cleared the firebox, he stuck his head in to take a look at what the issue was. He asked me for a plier. I’m sitting next to the open door with the kids, and I see him remove a big, dirty painting sheet. How does someone lose a big sheet down the chimney?! How does someone not tell us they lost a sheet down the chimney??

I took the kids out for a drive while the smoke had time to clear from inside the house. I drove for about 15 minutes and the kids were already asking to go back home. I get a text. “Stay out for a while. Old Man is coming over to check something out.”

You have got to be kidding me.

I completely disregarded the instructions and headed home to see what was going on. Smoke was still coming into the house. After some inspecting, they came to the conclusion that creosote had gotten in places it didn’t belong during the repair and started to smolder from the heated firebox. We’ll still need to call the inspector, but we thinking(hoping) there’s no more issues.
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When things keep falling apart, break, become in need of repair, it can become overwhelming. A house needs to be maintained. That was something the previous homeowners ignored. And now the burden has passed down to us. I’ll share my thoughts tomorrow regarding all that we’ve encountered with our home. If I sleep on it, hopefully I’ll be less likely to rant on.

I’m Hebrew Housewife. Remember, be diligent.