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Topic:   Sabotage? - 631 visits (1 today, 1 this week)

Frank Bombardiere
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From:Oklahoma City, OK
Registered: Aug 2002

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posted March 23, 2007 09:36 PM            

I have found two fireplaces now in the same neighborhood with newspapers rolled up neatly and stuffed into the gap between the lintel at the top of the firebox and the brick veneer of the front of the fireplace. It looked the same at both homes and not like the home owners did it. I can't imagine why anyone would do this except sabotage hoping the house would burn down. Crazy.

[This message has been edited by Frank Bombardiere (edited March 23, 2007).]

[This message has been edited by Frank Bombardiere (edited March 23, 2007).]

Frank Bombardiere
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From:Oklahoma City, OK
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posted March 23, 2007 09:42 PM            

Here is a pic. Click for photo (64557 Bytes)

Jeff Gainey
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From:Muncie, Indiana
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posted March 25, 2007 05:56 PM            

Could the sheets been an asbestos sheet stuffed in the gap trying to slow the burning of the home until all is in bed and asleep?
The only reason I ask is I inspected a garage with a two sided wall furnace still operational that I advised was an accident waiting to happen that had this asbestos sheeting between the rafter and flue.
Click for photo (81623 Bytes)
Click for photo (118111 Bytes)
As you can see in the picture the corner has actually cut through the sheeting and was touching the wood.
I have found a few openings stuffed with this sheeting before.
A different adventure everyday...Jeff G

Frank Bombardiere
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From:Oklahoma City, OK
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posted March 26, 2007 12:56 PM            

No, it was definately newspaper. I can't imagine why they did it.

John Arnold
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From:Philadelphia, PA
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posted March 26, 2007 02:20 PM            

Maybe someone living there wasn't using the fireplace, but felt a draft there, so packed it with newspaper.

Frank Bombardiere
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posted March 26, 2007 08:21 PM            

No, that is what I thought at the first home I saw with this situation. When I saw a second home by the same builder built around the same time with the same set up I feel like it was done during construction. I am now wondering how many of these homes are like this. I suppose it could be a coincidence that the fireplaces were both drafty and not properly sealed at the firebox causing the homeowners to do this, but the way they were installed was exactly the same.

Bob Harper
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From:Drexel Hill, PA
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posted March 27, 2007 10:44 PM            

Instead of leaving a mint, the mason left a firestarter with each Fp!

This is unfortunately a common site. Masons will pack in paper as chinking then fill in the gap from above with mortar as he lays it up. They just forget to pull it or figure what the heck, its inside a Fp, right? It can be a handy way to date the Fp. Reminds me of the date on the toilet tank lid trick.

the trick in sealing the profile gap is to use a high temperature resilient material such as ceramic fiber insulation so the metal damper and lintel can expand without damaging the profile yet prevent a second chimney effect up the profile.

BTW, asbestos outlawed in US 1972 so depending on date of Fp, may not be a possibility.

I have found a Playboy magazine stashed in the gap before. Some hot pics! Also wood, cigarettes, an army man, and a rubber ball.

I pissed off my first Realtor over such a newspaper in the gap back in '85. Oh, such fond memories...

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Keep the fire inside the fireplace

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