I saw this yesterday while inspecting a 6 year old house with a wood burning fireplace. The pics are of the exterior chimney structure.

What would your initial thoughts be?

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Same as yours. Call maufacturer for install instructions. Unit may have to be pulled to determine problem. Is there fan circulation around the firebox. That could be sucking the heat out of the unit. Might be easier and cheaper to remove the siding and plywood to look from behind.

Reflected sunlight off those windows.

Does it every time (well, many times) to vinyl siding. Combine that with possible not allowing for enough expansion when the vinyl siding was cut to length and installed - yeah, that could be the cause.

__________________
Jerry Peck, Construction / Litigation Consultant
Construction Litigation Consultants, LLC ( www.ConstructionLitigationConsultants.com )

This may piss Jerry off. But thats not hard to do. L.O.L.
Love ya Jerry.

Get a fire going and Put an Infrared Camera on the out side of that chimney. If its hot in that area you will see it.

Take a shot before and after the fire.

Best

Ron

__________________
It Might have Choked Artie But it ain't gone'a choke Stymie!
Billy J. Stephens HI Service
Memphis TN.

You don't have a little arson in your blood do ya Billy? L.O.L.

Best

Ron

A buddy of mine has a Fire & Water Restoration Company.

When I'm not busy I help him out. Just finished gutting one ( a BQ mishap . )

Just a matter of time & maybe some Xmas paper stuffed into the fire box to touch that one off.

__________________
It Might have Choked Artie But it ain't gone'a choke Stymie!
Billy J. Stephens HI Service
Memphis TN.

Jerry wins the cupie doll. Take a look at this interior shot of the firebox...........practically spotless with the exception of maybe some candle wax. Also, take a look at the melted gasket inside the window/magnifying glass that was adjacent to the fireplace. I saw another window in the house with similar damage and the same orientation to the east facing morning sun.

When I saw the fireplace had not been used, my only thought was it had to be the sun refelecting off the adjacent window.

Luckily just to cover all bases, the fireplace had a few issues that needed some servicing from a fireplace professional such as misaligned retaining clips in the firebox for the legs of the log grate and gaps between the glass door assembly and surround on front of the fireplace.

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I know, you sent Jerry the fireplace pic didn't you? HAHA Good call Jerry,

Jerry you Da Man!!!

Good eye. Insider info ?

Best

Ron

Nick, you were taught well!

Actually guys, this has been discussed on this forum before. Yes, it is the combination of reflected light off the glass in conjunction with tight siding. On broad walls, they use full panels. When they do make cuts, it is to one side only. They only negotiate one corner channel at a time. Now, with chases, they have to make more precise cuts, don't have a lot of room to nail (maybe two nails per course) and they are frustrated with having to think. I find the side panels snapped in they are cut so long. The few nails sometimes are fully driven in to keep the siding from bulding out. The sunlight phenomenon is usually on southerly exposures.

Ron, if you can read any degree of heat differential on the side of a chase that can be directly attributed to a hot flue or fireplace, you probably have other problems. The testing allows a maximum rise of interior surface temps. of 90F above ambient at the stated clearances. These sides are usually a foor or more away from the unit, thus are usually much cooler. For enough heat to migrate through would mean something is really wrong such as gaps in the sheathing, a disconnected vent or overfiring fireplace.

Good pickup Nick!
Bob

__________________
disgusted with some people on this forum. Out of here!

Oh Well,

Maybe next thread.

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__________________
It Might have Choked Artie But it ain't gone'a choke Stymie!
Billy J. Stephens HI Service
Memphis TN.

I like Billy toys lets all go play at his house. L.O.L.

Ron

My first thought was an idiot put his grill to close to the house.

Secod was sunlight off the windows.

__________________
Erby Crofutt, Georgetown, KY
B4U Close Home Inspections & Radon Testing
www.b4uclose.com www.kentuckyradon.com

Vinyl siding is popular around here, and I've seen this a few times. Heavier thickness vinyl and lighter colors are still susceptible to this problem.

The problem with this situation is that the siding manufacturer will blame the window manufacturer. The window manufacturer will blame the siding manufacturer.

The solution is to either screen the sun from hitting the window, screen the reflection from hitting the siding, or choose not to wrap your house (or that portion of it) in plastic.

Or install the siding properly....

BTW, they DID wrap the house in plastic-----that's what lead to this in the first place!
Bob

__________________
disgusted with some people on this forum. Out of here!

Installing the siding "too tight" by driving the nails too deep or by not leaving enough of a gap at the J-channel can certainly make the problem worse. But I've seen this happen to high quality vinyl siding that was properly installed, even in the center of long walls where room for expansion is no issue. The reflected sunlight can get the siding so hot that it just melts it in place. This happened in upstate NY which is not known for its intense sunshine.

There's a thread on this problem at The Inspector's Journal forum that has been kicking around for a while. In that one, the siding on the house is being damaged from a reflection off the window of a neighbor's house. Now there's a tough solution....

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