Chimney flue problem

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herekitty

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When we light a fire in the fireplace in the living room I have noticed a smell of smoke in the upstairs bedroom, it seems to be coming from inside a wardrobe that's built adjacent to where the chimney goes up through the house.

The chimney sweep says it could be a crack inside the flue. Has anyone any ideas? Also what's involved in fixing it and is it a big job?

Thank you
 
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Here kitty, we had the same problem years ago. Is it a new house? We discovered that the chimney flues were fitted incorrectly & the lining/filing around them was not done correctly. Unfortunately we had to get it redone from fireplace to chimney stack. We had an engineer test it & it was quite a job. I hope that your problem is not as severe as ours was. Initially to see what the problem was they opened up the chimney Brest, it is something you need to get checked out though because it doesn't get better on its own - would your house insurance/ house guarantee cover this?
 
We had the same problem on an old house.

While we were waiting for a permanent fix we burned briquettes on the advice of a friend. The briquette deposit on the flue seemed to seal the crack.

It worked a treat and gave us the chance to save a few bob for the permanent job!
 
Your chimney sweep may be able to put down a camera and if not find one that does.
We also have a chimney problem and are awaiting the camera job
 
Thanks for the reply Harry31. The house is 20 years old, We had no problems up until this year.
 
We also had this problem years ago when we had a coal fire downstairs and the smoke came through in an upstairs bedroom that had a fireplace. We ended up removing the fireplace and boarding up and plastering over. This solved the problem at the time but a few years later we had gas central heating installed and a liner was installed in the chimney. I regret taking out the old fireplace as it added character to the bedroom but at the time it was a necessary evil. As you problem seems to be behind a wardrobe I would say there's a crack somewhere in the chimney stack and it will be tricky to pinpoint the exact spot. You would be best get a builder to have a look. Hopefully it will be something simple to put right.
 
There are companies who will do a CCTV survey of your chimney. Maybe someone here could recommend someone?
It sounds like you have a crack somewhere alright. Did you ever have a chimney fire?
Its something that needs to be sorted. As well as the smoke, you could be at risk of Carbon Monoxide leak as well.
 
Thanks Alexa, John Jay

Good advice, i will need to get it sorted. Anyone any recommendations, I would be grateful.
 
I had a cracked flue due to a chimney fire. It cost around 6K to fix. And my insurance company paid for it. An engineer noticed it when he was in the attic as the chimney breast had fire damage or maybe it was a crack. Cannot fully remember. But it is important to get a good tradesman to do the job.
 
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