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fireplace too small?

16 years ago

My husband and I are buying our first home and we just got the home inspection done. We are buying this home from a distance and so were not there during the inspection. One of the items listed on the report that was emailed to us says that the fireplace is too small to be used as a wood burnign fire place. What the heck does that mean? It looks like a regular old fireplace to me (although I have never had one before) and it is clear that they used it for something as it has black stains on the front of the opening at the top. How could it be too small? It has no gas hookup, so it wasn't a gas fireplace or anything. Any ideas?

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Comments (2)

oruboris
16 years ago
I'm guessing the firebox is just plain too small to safely contain a wood fire.

If its an older home, it could originally have been intended as a coal burner, which were much smaller.
christopherh
16 years ago
The black you see is soot. And that's from a wood fire. Possibly the owners have been building fires for heat and have been building too large of fires.
But the solution to your delimma is simple. Call the inspector and ask what the heck does he mean?
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