I am new to this forum and hope this post belongs here. I just bought a house that has a fireplace and has a wood insert. Before the insert was put in place there apparently was a bit of smoke that came back into the house, the bricks abouve the opening show soot, thsat is more than average. The fireplace was built in 84, and is very tall, enough for a 2 story house but only one stroy, room has catherdral ceiling. All brick. My wife, doesn't like the look of the insert and would like to remove it. What would cause a draft to not be suffecient to pull the smoke upward?