greetings,
a friend just called me and was about to light a fire for the first time in his new house… which i didnt inspect :mad: he said “i think i can see the mantle inside! is there wood inside the fireplace?”
i havnt gone to see it yet, anyone have any ideas? i cant see any reason why you might see anything combustible inside a fireplace? its masonry btw.
thanks
I think you better tell him to hold off on that first fire until you look at it, unless he wants a really big one!
Jim King
I actually saw this on a TV program recently. They left the form boards above the smoke shelf.
Send the cheapskate this.
Maybe he’ll spend a few hundred to have it and the rest of his new purchase properly inspected.
or just have him double his fire coverage, he may be needing it
Bingo
… Cookie
You mean, like this? This is a picture of the fireplace throat.
It’s more common than you might think. . .
Last time I called this the realtor/ owner of the property called all upset, said the last inspector didn’t find any problems with the chimney. I told her you had to lay on your back and look up with your head inside the firebox to see the problem. I told her to take the photo in the report to compare with what she saw and call me back if she had any further questions. Never heard back.
Jeff,
Sorry, it must have been your picture that I was thinking about because that was the image I had in my mind.
Yes. Quite haunting, isn’t it? 
