Help with 1970's era fireplace

[rafaelsantana]

Hi

Our house has been particularly cold around our fireplace, and I was hoping for some help figuring out why. I know enough to close the flue, but there are some other features from this late-1970's fireplace i don't get.

Here's a picture:



First, there is a cold draft coming from the bottom vertical slots on either side of the opening. It might be hard to see at first, but there are 4 sets of 3 vertical slots by each corner of the opening. Inside the back of the fireplace is a 4" diameter pipe that leads to the outside. (There is metal vent on the outside of the chimney at that point.) Twisting the pipe from the inside opens or closes some holes. Also, on the bottom of the fireplace is some kind of trap that if opened, leads to a chute to our basement. I believe it is to help dispose of the ashes, but we haven't used it.

The floors and walls around the fireplace are much cooler there than anyplace else in our house. Any insight on what is going on, and how we can fix it, would be much appreciated.

Also, we were not the ones who put that rectangular gate in the arched fireplace. Any hints on how I can get that thing off? Thanks.

 

[webbie]

Pictures of the inside would be helpful, but the grates suggest that it may be a metal box (heatform) inside a masonry enclosure. The reason it is so cold would then be obvious. Basically, you have a whole bunch of metal and brick - usually poorly insulated compared to a wall, which wicks cold in from the outside.

Fixing it could be tough! I will defer to others here, but my guess is that you'd have to apply insulation on the outside of the fireplace structure to a certain height and then stucco over it, etc....to make that masonry become effectively part of the house envelope.