Help with 2 sided woodburning fireplace

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cke003

New Member
Oct 3, 2019
3
Chicago IL
We have a single fireplace that we are making double sided. We were informed that we can do this but only if 1 side is closed. It is a wood burning fireplace with a gas starter. It has a new flu and was just re-done. So, my question is since we can only use 1 side, how should we "close" up the other side. We more than likely won't use the 1 side anyway. Can we get a glass fireplace screen and just leave it closed on the 1 side? Any help is appreciated! Thanks!
 
Why is this being made double-sided only to seal up one side? Double-sided fireplaces are designed from the start to be that way. They need more flue area to handle the large volume of air that goes up the chimney. They also usually perform poorly and suck a lot of heat out of the house as well.
 
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When we bought the house, the only fireplace is in the back of the house in an office. On the other side of the fireplace is a 3 season room that is being converted into a all season room and family room (no family room in the house). We want the fireplace to be in the family room. Since the chimney is not large enough for the 2 sided we need to put glass or something on the 1 side that is not being used. We wanted to keep it double sided because it is also allowing more light into the office which doesn't have a window. Hope this makes sense. I can attach a picture if that would help. Thanks!
 
Is the office only 1 floor? If so, would a skylight or solar light work?
 
When we bought the house, the only fireplace is in the back of the house in an office. On the other side of the fireplace is a 3 season room that is being converted into a all season room and family room (no family room in the house). We want the fireplace to be in the family room. Since the chimney is not large enough for the 2 sided we need to put glass or something on the 1 side that is not being used. We wanted to keep it double sided because it is also allowing more light into the office which doesn't have a window. Hope this makes sense. I can attach a picture if that would help. Thanks!
If you were going to Do it you should have done it before any other work the firebox and smoke chamber will need to be completely redesigned and rebuilt.
 
The office is 2 story so no option for a window or skylight. We did have the firebox & smoke chamber re-built. The only thing we didn't do is make the chimney wider as it was not structurally possible. Everything else was re-built. We are thinking it might work if we make it a gas fireplace with gas logs. Would that work??

Thanks!
 
That’s probably your best bet. Slap a vent free log set there and leave your damper cracked if you have a sensitive nose. I’m surprised the house sold without an inspector turning his nose up at your gas lighter. Those things are against code in a lot of places.