Fireplace question

[mkeller234]

We have never used our fireplace in our current home. It will need cleaned and inspected before we attempt to use it at all.

With that in mind, I did get the motivation to clean the soot out of the fireplace yesterday and I noticed the little door in the hearth to sweep ash and embers. I checked the basement, expecting to find a clean out door... but only found a wall covered in drywall. What are the odds that some goofy previous owner covered a clean out door with drywall? I checked outside and could not find one. Is there a chance that no clean out door exists? Is that even possible? I'm tempted to rip down the drywall, but am afraid it will be for nothing.

[Gothichome]

The odds are very good you have a clean out behind that drywall. An option to tearing out the whole dry walled wall. If you can a find point of common reference between the fireplace and the bacement wall, you can measure down to the bottom from the fireplace and then measure down from the bacement. Start a small hole there and have a look. Decisions can be made depending on what you find.

[Mick_VT]

Ditto what Gothic says. I cant imagine somebody building the little door / chute to then not put in a cleanout. What is possible is the cleanout door might be missing and you would need to know that for sure

[CS in Low Hud]

I agree that the most likely scenario is a clean-out door hidden behind the dry wall... but I have seen fireplaces with ash dumps that DONT have them, and never did. Usually they void into a space that was large enough to imagine (I suppose) that it would never fill up.

Chris

[mkeller234]

Well, the good news is that the drywall was a poorly thought out decision to begin with. Our basement is not water proofed and I have seen water come from behind the drywall. It's also not framed out properly, meaning there are no studs to anchor anything into. I've already taken a bad ceiling and one wall down, so I might as well finish the job and rip the rest out.

[GibsonGM]

Hi, Mkeller!

Good news is...he's not just a painter, his big brother is a mason and he had to work for him for a decade, LOL....(self-reference).

Yes, there may or may not be a cleanout below that ash door; there SHOULD be, but as CS said - believe it or not, at one time, they thought there was enough volume in there to just hold ashes forever. There is not. Someday they fill up.

So...YOU are a responsible old home owner. You see that an ash dump with no way to remove ashes is not smart. You report WATER and you'll take the 'rock down...you'll have a cleanout installed (or do it yourself!), and then find out....why do I have any water at all coming in here?

The water coming in is more important than that cleanout, which I am glad you're now setting right, anyway

BTW, remember that if you install a cleanout, the works below the fireplace are 98% guaranteed to be totally full of ash you need to remove and dispose of...it's been a long time, baby...

[mkeller234]

The previous owner of our home was a mason too. Anyway, yes I believe I will be tearing the drywall down. I really hope to find a door

[phil]

what you could do is use a shop vac with a long hose , Just stick it down the little door and let er rip. OK maybe use a longer hose so you can set the vacuum outside, or use a second hose so the blow side of the vacuum can vent outside. If you do it that way you'll have to open the shop vac and empty it a few times but it might be better than dealing with it pouring out in the basement. My house has the little door but I just dig it out of the firebox rather than dealing with the mess in the basement so I don't use it anyway.

my shop vac is one of the rigid plastic ones. It's got the ability to suck up water so after a dirty job like that I'd just chuck the filter and suck some water through it to clean out the impaler. Im usually able to wash and re-use the filter but for that job I'd just start with an older filter. after you are done take the shop vac outside and hose it out on the lawn.

sometimes if my shop vac is super dirty I just use it to clean out the box under my tablesaw. the sawdust dust will fill it , and overcome any worse dirt, like if Im vacuuming out walls. Im not scared of a little wood dust but I like to avoid that old dust from in the walls and stuff.

. Im really not supposed to put sawdust in my green bin but I just layer it with grass and add enough water that it doesn't blow sawdust all over the place when the truck dumps my bin and then they don't say anything. Its just sawdust so its fine for the compost. sometimes I just fill paper bags with sawdust and then use them for kindling, I dont' empty the sawdust in the fire I just put the bag in. that soot is ok for your garden if you just mix it in the soil it'll provide nutrients so long as you don't burn wood with a lot of nails in it. you dont want it all over your house of course but it isn't really hazardous.

one trick that works is to install the filter, then pull a stocking over the filter, then suck up some sawdust to kind of pre clog the filter. then do your dirty job. that way when you empty it you can pull the stocking off and what's close to the filter is pretty much just sawdust. I just bang out the filter a few times and if it's really dirty I plunge it in a bucket of soapy water and set it in the sun dfor a couple days. that way I don't have to buy too many new filters.

I think you can also get bags for the shop vacs , that way you just replace the bag.

if you have a metal detector that might help locate the cleanout if you don't want to open too much drywall. You;d have to turn the sensitivity down but the door should be a big chunk of iron and maybe that would work?



Phil

[GibsonGM]

Might want to use an old shop vac, I understand that ashes aren't very good for the motor...a HEPA vac is nice for this, tho!

[phil]

I was using mine to connect to my sander. not a lot of air flow so I made a hole in the connector for the hose so more air would go through to cool it better.
a few weeks later it's making this high pitched squeal ,, bad bearings for sure I thought... so I took it back to home depot. I asked if I could just switch to the next model up and has wheels and a handle to push it around.
I got that one home and it squealed too, Then I realized the hole I made caused it to whistle

some days go like that lol BTW the new one wasn't any better at all and I threw off the wheels and handle , it just made it harder to move around. Warranties can be a savior if you abuse your tools I abuse the heck out of mine but it's one plastic orange tool that I do like. Ive used it lots for drywall dust with no issues yet. I got the more flexible hose for power tools so If I want I can fit two hoses and point the blow end outdoors too.

anyway back to the fireplace thread.... sorry to take it OT.