On the Level

Cozy Times Around the Old—But Safe—Fireplace

by Terry F. Meany

For the past few weeks, PBS has been featuring the show Alone in the Wilderness in a seemingly endless loop that is interrupted only for fundraising. Night after night, Richard Proenneke, a modern-day backwoodsman who apparently could live quite comfortably without a Starbucks located every two blocks (or without blocks, for that matter), is shown constructing a log cabin and furnishings, using only basic hand tools. It’s an impressive achievement, especially surviving in sub-zero Lake Clark National Park and Preserve in Alaska. Richard built his cabin and outbuildings before the winter set in, so a sturdy fireplace was a big priority. Even back-to-nature enthusiasts want some comforts.

At one point, American homes from coast to coast were all warmed by fireplaces or potbelly stoves. For homes, even expensive residences, without any kind of central heating, fireplaces and potbelly stoves were the only means of winter heating. Around 1900, hundreds of pounds of wood and coal ash were produced for every member of a household. Just try getting that stuff past the recycling guys now. According to local realtor Bonnie Spindler, modern-thinking homeowners of means at the beginning of the 20th century installed gas piping in their fireplaces. Asbestos sheets deflected the heat from gas flames into individual rooms.

In San Francisco, plenty of old flats still have their original fireplaces. Over the years, they have been ignored, walled over or had various types of heating appliances installed. Hugh Tuck of Atlas Heating reports that, “We have installed many console heaters in the past. These were set on the hearth outside the fireplace and were vented into the chimney. The front of the fireplace opening was completely covered with sheet metal, and the vent in ran through the metal, into the fireplace and partially up the chimney. This is now not legal, as code now requires that the vent be run up to the roof.”

Advancements in heating appliances have eliminated the need for a chimney for venting individual gas units. Tuck comments that “another item is sealed combustion heaters, which mount on an outside wall and vent directly to the outside. These units are completely sealed and take combustion air from the outside. This type of unit is far less likely to produce carbon monoxide.” Of course, a modern central furnace with a setback thermostat is a far preferable way to heat than individual units, but if you are looking to upgrade a usable fireplace, you have a variety of inserts to choose from. Gas grates can burn wood or come with ceramic fiber or concrete gas “logs.” Gas grates have optional fan-operated blowers available. For more efficient heating than a standard fireplace, there are cast-iron or plate-steel wood-stove have inserts that fit inside an open fireplace or protrude out onto the hearth. Gas fireplace inserts can convert wood-burning fireplaces into sealed gas-heating appliances.

Modern inserts look nothing like the potbelly stoves of old Western movies, although you can still sit around them and whittle (well, as soon as Nintendo comes out with a “Whittling Fool Game Boy”). Glass doors keep room heat from going up the chimney, and air circulation and draft can be controlled manually or thermostatically. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, a typical wood-burning, open fireplace is, at best, only 10% efficient at converting wood to energy and delivering heat into a room. This is about the same efficiency as the Board of Supervisors has in converting tax dollars into services. Fireplaces also pull cold air into a room from gaps around windows and doors. The total heat loss can be greater than the radiant heat provided by the fire. Fireplaces are great for atmosphere and romance but not much help if you’re trying to stay warm.

You will find your work is easier if you keep the fireplaces in your rentals nonoperative and let the hearths become a resting place for the potted plants you want kept off the wood floors. If you are going to offer your tenants a working fireplace, keep a few maintenance points in mind. A working damper is needed for every fireplace. The tenant must know how to use it before lighting a fire; and also how to close it when the fireplace is not in use in order to control heat loss in the room (you would think this is self-evident, but fires are lit regularly without first checking if the damper is open and soon home-sweet-home smells likes the smokers’ lounge at the Tokyo Airport). Make sure fireplace doors are made from tempered glass. They are not unbreakable but repeated exposure to extreme heat can weaken nontempered glass, depending on its proximity to the heat source. Sudden cooling—say, an overwhelming impulse to wipe down the doors with Windex while a fire blazes away—is definitely a bad idea. Fireplace screens or spark guards are necessary in the absence of glass doors. Chimney cleaning and inspections are a must. Cleaning out the ashes regularly is the tenant’s responsibility. Proper fireplace fuel includes dry, seasoned wood only, not leftover pizza boxes. Make sure your tenants understand the difference between what can and cannot be burned.

There is more to a fireplace than a pretty carved mantle and stone hearth. The chimney and its maintenance are big deals, even if the fireplace is inoperative. According to a U.S. Army report written after the 1906 earthquake, 95 percent of all chimneys in San Francisco collapsed. Natural disasters are often bonanzas for tradesmen, and the San Francisco earthquake was no exception as the call went out for unemployed carpenters, masons and builders from all over the country. No doubt their modern-day equivalents found work in southern California after the 1994 Northridge earthquake, where an estimated 60,000 masonry chimneys were destroyed or damaged beyond repair, according to the Association of Bay Area Governments. Add this cheery comment from the California Seismic Safety Commission (CSSC)—“Tell your family members to get away from chimneys and fireplaces during earthquakes”—and it’s clear you need to attend to your chimneys.

What to Do?
A complete rebuild would be nice, but there’s little point in disassembling one iffy brick structure only to put up a less iffy brick structure. Better to replace it with a pre- fabricated, Class A, all-fuel metal chimney. This is a simple, low-maintenance, even elegant solution to major chimney repair. If you don’t like the looks of the metal outside your otherwise original Queen Anne, then construct an enclosure around it with siding that matches the existing material. Reinforcing your existing chimney will help some, but according to the CSSC, “Retrofitting masonry chimneys with bracing or strapping is not an effective safety measure because many braced or strapped masonry chimneys typically will still fall when exposed to violent shaking.” In addition, a metal chimney eliminates the need for upgrading an existing chimney with a flue liner if you are adding an insert.

Trust Me, I’m a Professional
Fireplace repair and maintenance, like furnace work, is no place for amateurs. Not only are there fire concerns but also critical ventilation issues. In 2004, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission stated, “In a recent year…there were 15,500 fires and 40 deaths associated with fireplaces and chimneys. In addition, an average of about 85 people die each year from carbon monoxide poisoning caused by heating systems, ranges/ovens and water heaters.”

Installing a metal chimney does not get you completely off the hook for chimney inspections. Burning at too low a temperature can cause creosote buildup, and freeloading birds can find your chimney a perfect place for rent-free nest-building. As long as your inspector is climbing around looking at your chimney, have any furnace and clothes dryer vents checked as well. If you want to get really obsessed about it, you can hire a Chimney Safety Institute of America (CISA) Certified Dryer Exhaust Duct Technician. Only in America would you find such a specialist. Somehow, I suspect this isn’t a growth profession.

The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the viewpoint of SFAA or the San Francisco Apartment Magazine. Terry F. Meany is a former contractor and landlord. He is now a full-time writer and author of the new improved edition of Working Windows: A Guide to the Repair and Restoration of Wood Windows, published by Lyons Press. Working Windows is the only book devoted entirely to the repair of old windows. He is cost conscious but not cheap and knows deferred maintenance always costs more in the end. He can be reached at tfmeany@msn.com. Copyright © 2005 by the San Francisco Apartment Magazine. All rights reserved.