We recently purchased a foreclosure that and we are starting on the renovation. This is the 4th one we had done, so we are used to finding problems.

This house has a large fireplace, we no chimney. It had a electric log set in it. Our plans were to put in a vent free gas log, but we discovered some issues.

While pulling up the carpet, we discover there was more carpet under the the particle board subloor. So we knew that needed to all come up. But then we discovered that they built the fireplace on top of the particle board and carpet.

This section of the house is probably at least 150 years old. The floor joists are logs. In the cellar, they supported the floor under the fireplace with 6x6's etc. Shouldn't there be cinderblocks to support it?

They built the wall out about 18-24", so there is a lot of wasted space behind it. You can also see the back of the bricks, so there is nothing support them. Is that ok? Do they support each other?

My husband is worried about the weight of the bricks on the log joists. He also likes the idea of tearing it out, so we gain back the space. He was ready to start busting it out today, but I told him I wanted to sleep on it.

So if it was you, would it stay or go?