When my brother was on my roof on Thanksgiving (well that's another story) he told me that my chimney was "permanently" capped. This, he said, explained why the flu is screwed shut. I'm assuming that it worked at one time. The house is 35 years old. It seems to be a wood burning fireplace, but it's locked up.
What I want to know is, why would someone do that? It just aggravates me. Can a fireplace break? Whom does one call to fix a fireplace?
It was 19 degrees this morning and predicted to get down in the teens again tonight. It's very rare in South Carolina. Rarer even than a working fireplace. It would be so nice to have a nice cozy fire tonight. And I have a fireplace. It's just that someone locked it up!
Obviously, I don't know beans about fireplaces and will welcome input. But have you noticed that you only miss a fireplace when it's cold out? Until this very minute, I hadn't thought about central air conditioning all day.
I'm grateful that I have a warm home when it's cold and a cool home when it's hot. What percentage of people on this planet can count on that, I wonder. And when I'm hungry or having a jones for something salty or something sweet, I only have to walk to my kitchen - at the very most I drive to the grocery. I have clothing enough for any likely temperature and when it is no longer fresh, I put it into my washing machine.
Am I spoiled or what? I even have a brother who'll climb on my roof to clean gutters for me when he visits. What sort of a fool am I to complain about a capped chimney? Please help me stay in the place of gratitude this year. It keeps me warm.
Would you believe we have a working wood fireplace here in the desert part of Arizona?
ReplyDeleteWe had one in Colorado, too. It was nice and cozy, until we went to bed and the fire burned out—at which time it would let in freezing air from outside. We would wake up freezing until I could close the flue . . .