what to use to fill a gap between lintel and marble/tile facing?

[warmitup]

Hi, I've been searching for this for a while, but I haven't found an answer, so I thought I'd ask here.

We moved into a home with a fireplace, and someone had put a new marble/tile facing on the brick (toward the room, on the front of the fireplace). There's a ~1" gap of incomplete grout/mortar (whatever it is) between the marble and the brick, such that there's some space for smoke smell to rise up between the brick and the sheet rock above it.

What can I fill this with safely and wisely? It'd be a lot of caulk. And I don't know what grout/mortar would be heat safe and smoke blocking. You can see in the picture that the whitish tile faces the room. Thanks. Trying to reduce smoke smell upstairs (because there is some sheet rock imperfection in the above floor due to wiring, etc.).

 

[bholler]

Hi, I've been searching for this for a while, but I haven't found an answer, so I thought I'd ask here.

We moved into a home with a fireplace, and someone had put a new marble/tile facing on the brick (toward the room, on the front of the fireplace). There's a ~1" gap of incomplete grout/mortar (whatever it is) between the marble and the brick, such that there's some space for smoke smell to rise up between the brick and the sheet rock above it.

What can I fill this with safely and wisely? It'd be a lot of caulk. And I don't know what grout/mortar would be heat safe and smoke blocking. You can see in the picture that the whitish tile faces the room. Thanks. Trying to reduce smoke smell upstairs (because there is some sheet rock imperfection in the above floor due to wiring, etc.).

View attachment 272282

Any mortar or grout will work but that is not the source of your smell.

 

[warmitup]

Thanks @bholler . So then the smell must simply be exiting the chimney somewhere into the area between the chimney bricks and sheet rock. Have you seen this before?

 

[bholler]

Thanks @bholler . So then the smell must simply be exiting the chimney somewhere into the area between the chimney bricks and sheet rock. Have you seen this before?

A gap like that absolutely. Probably more often than not. Smoke smell can be caused by hundreds of different reasons we need way more info to help you out

 

[warmitup]

A gap like that absolutely

I may not have been specific enough in my initial question. The gap is 1" in width, but runs the entirety of the 48" along the top of the fireplace. Because it's between the brick and the marble, I'd have thought the brick (front wall of the fireplace/chimney) continues up behind the sheetrock, and therefore any smoke or smoke-smell that goes up along the outside-of-the-chimney side of the bricks would continue up alongside the bricks, including up between walls above them. I don't know if this clarifies my question or not.

I definitely know that the smoke smell is between the upstairs sheet rock and chimney, because there's a built-in cabinet that stinks of smoke, due to having a hole in the sheet-rock within the enclosed built-in cabinet.

My hope is that closing this marble/brick gap with grout or mortar will reduce the smokey smell from rising along the outside of the bricks.

The only other info I can think of: Home is 30 years old, 48X36 masonry fireplace with 36 foot chimney, a 13x13" flue, and a flue tile liner. That's about all I know about it.

 

[bholler]

I may not have been specific enough in my initial question. The gap is 1" in width, but runs the entirety of the 48" along the top of the fireplace. Because it's between the brick and the marble, I'd have thought the brick (front wall of the fireplace/chimney) continues up behind the sheetrock, and therefore any smoke or smoke-smell that goes up along the outside-of-the-chimney side of the bricks would continue up alongside the bricks, including up between walls above them. I don't know if this clarifies my question or not.

I definitely know that the smoke smell is between the upstairs sheet rock and chimney, because there's a built-in cabinet that stinks of smoke, due to having a hole in the sheet-rock within the enclosed built-in cabinet.

My hope is that closing this marble/brick gap with grout or mortar will reduce the smokey smell from rising along the outside of the bricks.

The only other info I can think of: Home is 30 years old, 48X36 masonry fireplace with 36 foot chimney, a 13x13" flue, and a flue tile liner. That's about all I know about it.

I don't see a 1" gap there. And is it drywall or cement board? If it is drywall it is very unsafe. If it is in the drywall you have a very serious safety issue that needs to be addressed by a pro.

 

[warmitup]

And is it drywall or cement board? If it is drywall it is very unsafe.

For clarification, when you ask about "it" do you mean the 2nd floor (fireplace is 1st floor) interior wall, or do you mean the backing for the marble tile? The marble tile is directly on the brick. It appears that the interior walls of the house on both the 1st and 2nd floor are drywall, but it's very possible that there's a non-combustible layer behind there, as the fireplace wall juts into the room (and the chimney is outside the wall of the house). In fact, you can see in the pictures here that there is a 2.5" extension of the fireplace-portion of the wall into the room. It's all brick behind the chimney part...we tried to hang a picture to no avail. Not sure if this offers any clarity or not.

A builder working on our house said, "You have a double brick chimney," for whatever that's worth.

You're right about the measurement, it's probably more like 1/2" thick between the marble tile and the brick....and it may be irrelevant to my smell issue.

Photos attached (including one taken out the door that shows both the lower chimney and interior fireplace in the same picture) (and another photo of the gap between the marble tile and the brick).

I think it's very likely that I am misunderstanding the construction of this new house by incorrectly guessing where the smoke smell is coming from upstairs. I'd rather be a regular moron than a moron with a safety problem. I still don't love the fact that the upstairs cabinet smells so smokey though.

As soon as we moved in, we had a chimney sweep inspect and they said everything looked safe and fine. For whatever that's worth. *shrug*

 

[bholler]

For clarification, when you ask about "it" do you mean the 2nd floor (fireplace is 1st floor) interior wall, or do you mean the backing for the marble tile? The marble tile is directly on the brick. It appears that the interior walls of the house on both the 1st and 2nd floor are drywall, but it's very possible that there's a non-combustible layer behind there, as the fireplace wall juts into the room (and the chimney is outside the wall of the house). In fact, you can see in the pictures here that there is a 2.5" extension of the fireplace-portion of the wall into the room. It's all brick behind the chimney part...we tried to hang a picture to no avail. Not sure if this offers any clarity or not.

A builder working on our house said, "You have a double brick chimney," for whatever that's worth.

You're right about the measurement, it's probably more like 1/2" thick between the marble tile and the brick....and it may be irrelevant to my smell issue.

Photos attached (including one taken out the door that shows both the lower chimney and interior fireplace in the same picture) (and another photo of the gap between the marble tile and the brick).

I think it's very likely that I am misunderstanding the construction of this new house by incorrectly guessing where the smoke smell is coming from upstairs. I'd rather be a regular moron than a moron with a safety problem. I still don't love the fact that the upstairs cabinet smells so smokey though.

As soon as we moved in, we had a chimney sweep inspect and they said everything looked safe and fine. For whatever that's worth. *shrug*

Ok those pics are better. Fill that gap with mortar of some sort . But the smell in an upstairs cabinet is concerning