Shared Chimney Chase Open In Attic

[Nick Ostrowski]

This is from a 17 year old townhouse I looked at yesterday. The shared chimney chase for the fireplaces is open in the attic and you can see the attached neighbor's flue for their fireplace from inside the attic of the unit I inspected.

Firewall separation is still required here between the units, correct?

http://i359.photobucket.com/albums/oo35/nicko555/chimney_zpsd1fa204b.jpg (http://s359.photobucket.com/user/nicko555/media/chimney_zpsd1fa204b.jpg.html)

[Jerry Peck]

Firewall separation is still required here between the units, correct?

Correct.

[Jerry Peck]

This is from a 17 year old townhouse ...
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Firewall separation is still required here between units, correct?

Nick,

For townhouses, yes, separation is required between the two chimney chases (which in this case is one chimney chase but would be two chases when separated by the required 1 hour or 2 hour rated wall - the minimum rating depends on various factors).

Additionally, the chases need to be fireblocked at the ceiling level and I don't see that either (looks like it may have been there based on the paint line - unless that paint line is from trim).

Can you imagine a chimney fire in one chimney? Both townhouses would suffer damage due to the lack of the required fire wall between the units.

[Jerry Peck]

Nick,

Do you need an IRC code reference?

[Mark Reinmiller]

This is from a 17 year old townhouse I looked at yesterday. The shared chimney chase for the fireplaces is open in the attic and you can see the attached neighbor's flue for their fireplace from inside the attic of the unit I inspected.

Firewall separation is still required here between the units, correct?

http://i359.photobucket.com/albums/oo35/nicko555/chimney_zpsd1fa204b.jpg (http://s359.photobucket.com/user/nicko555/media/chimney_zpsd1fa204b.jpg.html)

Yes it is wrong.

BTW, Was it in the Upper Dublin area?

[Nick Ostrowski]

Nick,

Do you need an IRC code reference?

Nope. Thanks for the input.