Fix "Dog House" (aka "Chase") from the outside??? (fireplace draft issue)

[TomL]

I purchased a vinyl siding removal tool, and just learned how to use it from one of your videos. Thank you Dominick! This will be helpful for one of my upcoming projects, as described below.

I have a relatively new house (built in 2004), but the builder didn't do me any favors with the manner in which they installed a direct vent gas fireplace (specifically a Hearth & Home Technologies "Heatilator" Model GCDC60). They ran the gas line into it from the right side, but it was designed to be run in from the left side. The hole that wasn't used, as well as the oversized hole they created, allowed an incredible amount of cold air to infiltrate our home. Standing in front of it, it felt as if someone left a window open!

Now that I'm retired, I'm finally getting around to addressing this issue. I covered the holes with an aluminum foil tape, and that cut the draft down to virtually nothing. However, there is a tremendous amount of cold that is conducted thru the stone face/base. Unless the fire has been on for a while, standing on the stone portion directly in front of the fireplace, on a cold winter day, it feels like ice to one's bare feet.

Based on discussions I see in a HVAC forum, I've come to the conclusion that the "dog house" (aka "chase") was not "air sealed" and/or insulated in the most appropriate manner.

I see comments like, "The only proper way to fix the problem is to take the siding off the back of the dog house and insulate and drywall the inside." That comment can be seen at...

http://hvac-talk.com/vbb/archive/ind.../t-159965.html

I see similar discussion about how such a project is "Not very fun to fix from the outside, but its possible." at...

http://www.hearth.com/econtent/index...wthread/64908/

That is what I'm trying to learn how to do myself. I'm scouring the web, trying to find an explanation as to how this might be accomplished. If you have any advice, I'm all ears!

My intention is to tackle this project next Spring or Summer.

Thank you,

Tom (from Ohio)

[dominick]

Hi Tom how are you. Sorry for the delay I been nuts the last few days. Now you should not have to insulate the chase, but rather just the wall of the house that of course should be already. I have seen a lot of builders just frame a big hole in the wall where the fireplace is. This is a no no of course. I would say the best thing for you to do is open the chase up and see if you can see the back of the fireplace. If you can you'll have a good idea of what needs to be done. Now being that it's a gas unit. Do you have a big long chase to the roof top ? or just some box like on the house ?

Insulating a chase wont be all that easy. You'll sheet rock on the inside as well. Or you should rather. But even then it's something I would like to get into. Perhaps you can start with , if the chase is off the ground and I would think it is, try to open it up and see what you see. More then likely it's closed up with just some siding (soffit) and not plywood. If so install some plywood and really look for any air leaks, just stopping some wind from getting it would be a big help..

Dominick

[TomL]

Thanks for the reply Dominick. I appreciate you taking the time to discuss this with me.

Pictures can certainly be worth a thousand words, so I've attached some photos that will likely answer your questions. I took pictures of my "Dog House," the front of the Fireplace, and of the bottom of the Heatilator (the area which shows how I, with aluminum foil tape, managed to stop the draft from entering).



I'm a little confused about managing the attachments. My desire was to remove the picture of the "Dog House" that I took in portrait mode, and only include the picture of it in landscape mode. But I couldn't find the delete button!

I figure that to "air seal," then insulate (or re-insulate) this area, that I'll need to remove all the siding, and go from there. But I'm still having difficulty understanding how one can go about this. To me, it sort of sounds like painting oneself into a corner.

TomL

[dominick]

Well of course once you remove the siding you'll be able to see the sheathing / plywood. Remove that and I'm sure many questions will be answered. However I would like to see what is under the dog house. A lot of guys will just cover it up with siding soffit and of course that's just not good enough. So if you can, push in on it and see if you can tell if there is anything like plywood behind it.