Good day all. I have a question as a new homeowner. My new house has a fireplace in the living room. The fireplace column that goes to the chimney goes right through my bedroom to the roof. My questions are:
1. Can I have the fireplace Disabled? I would rather keep it for show rather than use.
2. Can the fireplace column in my bedroom be removed?
3. My heating exhaust travels through this column; can that be re-routed?
4. Roughly, about how much would a project like this cost?
Thanks to all.
Josh
Replies
First question. Is this going to be your final residence? If not... you might want to think about resale values before doing this.
Next... What is the problem that is leading to to want to do this? Heat loss? Stack in the way in the bedroom?
Next. What kind of column are we talking? I would assume it is standard framing... but you know how to spell "assume".
Next. Where would the new stack be routed. A cavity needs to be there somewhere. And keep in mind... if you move it upstairs... it will need to move on the first floor also... in the same place on the floor plan as upstairs. And don't forget about the attic... do you have anything in the way in the attic for the new route?
Next. The design of the house is obviously for the heat stack to go up this route... have you consulted with a mechanical engineer to determine the requirements to do this safely?
Almost anything is possible (as long as it doesn't involve defiance of the rules of gravity, or violation of any of Newton's laws of physics). It's a question of whether it is worth the money to do it.
Wow! Thanks for all the info.
1. Yes, this is going to be my final residence; I hope.
2. The stack is smack in the middle of the master bedroom. It's framed and very nicely decorated. One wouldn't even think that it was the stack for the fireplace. It looks more like a support beam or something.
3. Ideally, I don't want the stack in the bedroom. If the heating exhaust could be routed some other way via the attic I would be happy. Right now it goes from the basement to the fireplace stack to the chimney. The fireplace stack is centered in the house. The heating exhaust uses tin ducts (or whatever metal that is) and I am assuming that it can be routed to an alternate path. Then again, I can spell "assume". ;) I will not be using the fireplace. It will be a fancy exhaust for my heating system.
4. The reason for my question is to gauge whether the cost and effort of removing this stack from my bedroom is worth it or would it be better to just work with the thing and make it part of my room design.
Again, thanks for all the input. I really appreciate it.
The first thing I'm thinking of is someone staying at your house for the weekend and thinking it would be great to build a fire in the fireplace never "assuming" that the chimney had been removed. All fireplaces require chimneys by code, and it would be an arbitrary decision by your building department official as to if your fireplace was clearly now a "candle alter" or something like that. You should talk to them first.
As for cost, anything can be done, but no one can give you an estimate unless they look at it first hand and even then it will be a good guess. To get an honest estimate, you'll have to hire a reccomended contractor or designer to come and look at it for an hour or so. Sorry if that's not much help.
LOL! It would really suck if someone did lite something in there. At that point I may have to worry about other things. ;)
Thanks for you input. All input is valuable.
Josh
Short answer... it will be MUCH cheaper to work around it.
Longer answer...
the stack needs to go straight to daylight. You would need to have a mechanical engineer look at your furnace set-up to see if the stack can be re-routed (don't forget... you need to have space BOTH on the first floor... and a space directly above that on the second floor. The chances are very high that the re-routed stack will cut through the roof at an inopportune spot... thus requiring a structural adjustment (murphy's law). Regardless... it is another hole through the roof... and a repair on the roof where the existing stack exits.
You could look at moving your furnace... but now we are in a WHOLE different situation (think more $$... a LOT more money).
When you say "smack in the middle"... do you mean it is a bump-out on the wall? Or it is a column up through the bedroom?
If it is against the wall... I have built-in many a wall unit that incorporate the stack in the design. By the time you are done... with the right design... you'll never even know it is there. A built-in desk, shelving, wardrobe, TV enclosure, .. about anything you can think of... can be built-in to incorporate the stack.
If you are talking a column in the middle of the room... then I would suggest a lobotomy for the designer of the house! LOL
As far as the fireplace... you would definitely have to meet with your building inspector to discuss necessary modifications to the fireplace if it is disabled. I have seen a disabled fireplace converted to "ornamental" function... but it was dramatically altered to assure that no fire could ever be built in the thing... and there is no doubt as to it's "non-functionality".
Edited 3/29/2005 8:08 pm ET by Rich from Columbus
Rich...thanks for your input.
I think I will hang a full-body mirror on the column and just work around it.
Yes, the designer should have something chopped off. ;)
The house is too beautiful to pass up because of a column. I can live with it. The room is 23x15; I'm sure I can do something with it. Click on this link or cut-and-paste this link to see a pic of the room. You have to see it to believe it.
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/joshrojas/detail?.dir=/9bd2&.dnm=ebbb.jpg&.src=ph&.tok=phj2KwCBRzjg04As
Thanks so much.
Josh