Follow Shreveport And Bossier City's Best Home Inspector on Actual Home Inspections To Find The problems Through the eyes of the Home Inspector - ANSWER TO PROBLEM #1

There Are Actually 2 Problems Here

Problem #1

The first inspection problem is the missing fire stop (also called fire blocking). Building standards and the manufactures installation instructions require that all spaces between floors and ceilings through which chimneys pass shall be fire blocked with noncombustible material. The diagram below shows the proper installation practices.

Here is the original inspection picture as well as some other examples of what it should not look like. You will notice in all of the pictures the fire stop is completely missing. Most chimney fires burn very hot and very fast. The purpose of the fire stop it to help prevent a fire from quickly moving from the chimney chase area into the attic area.

The picture below is an example of the correct installation method. Notice how the area around the chimney is sealed. As mentioned above, the fire stop can be any rated noncombustible material. It is common to see gypsum board (drywall), cement fiberboard, or fire rated plywood installed as the fire stop. Pelican State Inspection frequently finds missing, damaged, or incorrectly fire stop of both preexisting homes as well as brand new homes.

Problem #2

The second problem is really a product of the first problem. You will notice in the picture below that insulation from the attic has fallen down the chimney chase and is resting on top of the fireplace. If the proper fire stop was installed this would have never happened. The fireplace has clearance requirements from combustible building materials and insulation. The insulation contact pictured below can increase the pre-engineered surface temperatures of the firebox. This could result in ignition of combustible material that are outside the designated clearances to combustibles. The solution to Problem #2 is to vacuum the insulation out of the fireplace chase from the attic.

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