negligent house fire?

[oilstinks]

All right here is the story. The other day we got called out to a smoke filled house. When we got there the crawl space was ffull of smoke as well as the house. The floor and joists undder the hearth at chimney was smoldering glowing red but not a working fire. After we tore out the charr and got it out we noticed about a 1/2 inch gap between the hearth and the fireplace where the glass weent against it. The hot coals had got down the crack and to the osb floor. The fire had no ventalation and could not breath to get goinng. The unusually high winds we felt helped it draw more air under the house and this had probably happend before and went out but the high winds got some air stiring under the house to elp the smolder breath (my water under my place froze at about 25 deg out;never has happend until that day). I just cant understand how a contractor could risk the lives of people with shoddy work like that. Would the house setteling cause that over the years. It had 2x4 exterior walls so it is not a newer construction but the chimney andhearth could have been added. No other visable cracks on the home or chimney nor on the inside brick on the wall. I just find it hard to believe someone would build like that.

 

[begreen]

Sadly, this happens a lot. People would be surprised to find the short cuts and mistakes made by contractors, then buried behind sheetrock and siding. We've seen complete new houses out here rot from the outside in because the contractor had mistaken notions of how to clad a house. Wiring shortcuts are not uncommon in budget homes. In our house, the propane furnace pvc pipe was unglued on some joints and one elbow was broken and leaking on the backside. Shoddy work is no stranger unfortunately. I end up doing a lot of the work on our house myself for just this reason.

 

[Highbeam]

What would have happened if you guys didn't get there in time was that the whole house would have burned down and the media would have placed the blame on the fireplace. How many fires have been "caused" by the woodstove.

 

[blades]

Friend of mine place had a fire from fireplace that was original to house say about 1950 construction, similar to the first post. The supporting construction had insufficient clearance to the back of and underneath the fireplace over the years it evidently had been heated and charred several times with out creating a noticeable problem. Shortly after they had Glass doors installed on the fireplace they had a fire start in the wall behind the fireplace, best guess the extra heat burning with the doors closed and just the vents open set it off.