RaidersAreOne Posted January 19 Share Posted January 19 6 minutes ago, vike daddy said: Bats and vampires love them. But seriously though... Storage design comes down to the items you intend to store. Are they seasonal things like Christmas decorations that you only need limited access to? Because of you're going to move stuff on and off the shelving regularly, you don't want a ceiling mounted system. Yes most seasonal things! Sports equipment, Christmas decor, etc. Stuff I wouldn't touch often. Good point though. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tugboat Posted January 28 Share Posted January 28 On 1/17/2024 at 12:38 PM, RaidersAreOne said: Does anyone have those shelves that hang from your garage roof? We have an unfinished basement but I hate how cluttered it is. I want to eventually make the downstairs a capable hang out room (Even if unfinished), so a lot of our Christmas decorations/keepsakes/etc. need to go somewhere else. Thoughts? Attached/detached garage? Fully sealed, conditioned space? Unconditioned+vented space? I don't really see anything wrong with suspending a bunch of seasonal junk from your garage rafters if you've got the clerance. But if it's an open/vented space, you will get like a thousand bugs in all of it that you'll bring inside once a year. Plus a billion pieces of dust and stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
naptownskinsfan Posted January 29 Share Posted January 29 On 1/28/2024 at 6:00 AM, Tugboat said: Attached/detached garage? Fully sealed, conditioned space? Unconditioned+vented space? I don't really see anything wrong with suspending a bunch of seasonal junk from your garage rafters if you've got the clerance. But if it's an open/vented space, you will get like a thousand bugs in all of it that you'll bring inside once a year. Plus a billion pieces of dust and stuff. He could also put tarps or bags over the containers to prevent the potential damage from bugs/dust. I have an attached garage that we come in and out of daily, and stuff on the shelves in the garage do get dirty. And while it is cooler than the attic, you have to make sure that your stuff being stored out there isn’t anything that extreme heat/cold will damage. I’m not putting the decorations my grandmother made over the year out there in the summer, but don’t mind if the Christmas balls and outdoor lights are in boxes out there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heimdallr Posted February 2 Share Posted February 2 My 1940’s house has a basement fireplace, connected to a main floor fireplace. The main floor was converted to natural gas at some point, so the basement is now sealed off (or maybe was originally never connected to the chimney?). The basement fireplace has two steel doors on the side that are just packed with dust/dirt/ash. I’m wondering if maybe the basement “fireplace” was never meant to be functional but just to be a clean out area for ash from the main floor fireplace? I opened one of the doors because I heard a mouse in there, and I used a metal rod to scoop out some of the dust/ash, but I never hit a wall on the other side, and I found some leaves, concrete chunks, and dirt in there. I assumed these were just clean out doors but Is it possible that there is no exterior wall and these doors just go to the outside dirt? That seems crazy, but I don’t want to keep digging if there is nothing on the other side, and I have no idea how a mouse got in there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Malfatron Posted February 2 Share Posted February 2 1 hour ago, Heimdallr said: My 1940’s house has a basement fireplace, connected to a main floor fireplace. The main floor was converted to natural gas at some point, so the basement is now sealed off (or maybe was originally never connected to the chimney?). The basement fireplace has two steel doors on the side that are just packed with dust/dirt/ash. I’m wondering if maybe the basement “fireplace” was never meant to be functional but just to be a clean out area for ash from the main floor fireplace? I opened one of the doors because I heard a mouse in there, and I used a metal rod to scoop out some of the dust/ash, but I never hit a wall on the other side, and I found some leaves, concrete chunks, and dirt in there. I assumed these were just clean out doors but Is it possible that there is no exterior wall and these doors just go to the outside dirt? That seems crazy, but I don’t want to keep digging if there is nothing on the other side, and I have no idea how a mouse got in there. Cask of Amontillado vibes 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vike daddy Posted February 4 Share Posted February 4 On 2/1/2024 at 5:15 PM, Heimdallr said: My 1940’s house has a basement fireplace, connected to a main floor fireplace. The main floor was converted to natural gas at some point, so the basement is now sealed off (or maybe was originally never connected to the chimney?). The basement fireplace has two steel doors on the side that are just packed with dust/dirt/ash. I’m wondering if maybe the basement “fireplace” was never meant to be functional but just to be a clean out area for ash from the main floor fireplace? I opened one of the doors because I heard a mouse in there, and I used a metal rod to scoop out some of the dust/ash, but I never hit a wall on the other side, and I found some leaves, concrete chunks, and dirt in there. I assumed these were just clean out doors but Is it possible that there is no exterior wall and these doors just go to the outside dirt? That seems crazy, but I don’t want to keep digging if there is nothing on the other side, and I have no idea how a mouse got in there. if the basement is built with a true fireplace opening, then it was surely intended to be an operational fireplace, i would say. it would be a lot of work to make one that isn't useable. i also wouldn't think that the cleanout doors go into a void that reaches all the way to the exterior of the house, as that doesn't make any real sense to build it that way either. you don't really have to clean out the debris in there, since the upstairs has been converted to gas. i mean, you could just leave it all packed in place, i'd say. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tugboat Posted February 13 Share Posted February 13 On 2/1/2024 at 6:15 PM, Heimdallr said: My 1940’s house has a basement fireplace, connected to a main floor fireplace. The main floor was converted to natural gas at some point, so the basement is now sealed off (or maybe was originally never connected to the chimney?). The basement fireplace has two steel doors on the side that are just packed with dust/dirt/ash. I’m wondering if maybe the basement “fireplace” was never meant to be functional but just to be a clean out area for ash from the main floor fireplace? I opened one of the doors because I heard a mouse in there, and I used a metal rod to scoop out some of the dust/ash, but I never hit a wall on the other side, and I found some leaves, concrete chunks, and dirt in there. I assumed these were just clean out doors but Is it possible that there is no exterior wall and these doors just go to the outside dirt? That seems crazy, but I don’t want to keep digging if there is nothing on the other side, and I have no idea how a mouse got in there. Kinda hard to know what's going on if they've capped it and put a gas insert in at the main floor. You'd have to pull that out to even see what's left of the original stuff behind there. But obviously not worth it. Would be silly to do. Definitely looks like an old school chimney cleanout. Do you have any servants to send down to the basement to deal with this? This probably would've been where you just shoved all the ash from that main floor fireplace out of the way down into these little side cubbies. For someone poor to deal with. Entirely likely part of those cleanout paths was abandoned and reclaimed by the earth many many years ago. As far as mice go. Those ****ers are boneless and will squish in anywhere. It's astonishing what they can fit through. So it might not even be a bad idea to actually open those cleanout doors, clean up the edges and then seal them shut with some sort of adhesive or gasket. Then obviously latch it shut firmly again and hopefully no mice ingress through the ports. Dead or otherwise. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tugboat Posted February 13 Share Posted February 13 On 2/4/2024 at 4:31 PM, vike daddy said: if the basement is built with a true fireplace opening, then it was surely intended to be an operational fireplace, i would say. it would be a lot of work to make one that isn't useable. i also wouldn't think that the cleanout doors go into a void that reaches all the way to the exterior of the house, as that doesn't make any real sense to build it that way either. you don't really have to clean out the debris in there, since the upstairs has been converted to gas. i mean, you could just leave it all packed in place, i'd say. It is 1940s construction though. If there's a chimney on the main floor above...it wouldn't really be unexpected to see that same brick carried right on down to the foundation even if there was zero intention of a fireplace there. Especially when bumped out like that. Ain't nobody probably wants to see what the footers actually look like. But if you don't look at them, they're fine and definitely not compromised at all. That's the rule with old buildings. Don't mess with it unless you have to. Though realistically...if you actually really really wanted a basement fireplace in that scenario...you could pull that main floor insert and figure out what's going on behind it. And if there's room to route another gas insert through there from below. Or more easily, you could spend a few bucks going down to the local authority and pull permits for whenever that main floor gas insert was put in. There's probably something in there for plans that'll tell you if you can add another gas insert in the basement. With...more new permits obviously. And someone qualified running new gas lines and ventilation, etc. Gas fireplaces aren't really what i'd call DIY territory. But you can still save money by figuring out what's possible and what's going on anyway. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vike daddy Posted February 13 Share Posted February 13 5 hours ago, Tugboat said: Though realistically...if you actually really really wanted a basement fireplace in that scenario...you could pull that main floor insert and figure out what's going on behind it. And if there's room to route another gas insert through there from below. i'm not so sure about that... if the basement has its own fireplace opening and chimney escape route, it's going to be separate from the upstairs one. so pulling the main floor insert and peeking in there shouldn't really gain access to the basement route. well, it shouldn't, but as you say, if it was built in the 1940's then who knows if it was done "correctly." but id wager there are two separate paths for two separate fireplaces. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heimdallr Posted February 13 Share Posted February 13 9 minutes ago, vike daddy said: i'm not so sure about that... if the basement has its own fireplace opening and chimney escape route, it's going to be separate from the upstairs one. so pulling the main floor insert and peeking in there shouldn't really gain access to the basement route. well, it shouldn't, but as you say, if it was built in the 1940's then who knows if it was done "correctly." but id wager there are two separate paths for two separate fireplaces. So I did end up needing to pull out the gas fireplace insert, because there was a huge SQUIRREL in there, not a mouse. The upstairs fireplace has ash chutes connected to the basement fireplace (which is what those doors were), but I can't tell if the two fireplaces had separate exhausts or not because the basement one is sealed off now. The squirrel was stuck behind the gas insert, and would go up and down between the two levels via the ash chutes. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vike daddy Posted February 13 Share Posted February 13 10 minutes ago, Heimdallr said: I can't tell if the two fireplaces had separate exhausts or not because the basement one is sealed off now. they just pretty much have to be separated. otherwise the exhaust from the lower could travel into the main one and be backdrafted down in to the living space. there just isn't a mason around who would have connected them in one pathway. good for you for getting Rocky Squirrel out! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tugboat Posted February 13 Share Posted February 13 3 hours ago, vike daddy said: i'm not so sure about that... if the basement has its own fireplace opening and chimney escape route, it's going to be separate from the upstairs one. so pulling the main floor insert and peeking in there shouldn't really gain access to the basement route. well, it shouldn't, but as you say, if it was built in the 1940's then who knows if it was done "correctly." but id wager there are two separate paths for two separate fireplaces. Oh, they would've been separate for sure. Or actually, that basement one never would've had a fireplace at all. Like i said, that part of it would've existed just to support the chimney above, and provide the access to the basement (squirrel) cleanout for the main floor fireplace. But if you're talking about putting in a new Gas Fireplace insert...it's entirely possible that there would be room to route new vents up through the main floor (behind the main floor gas insert), and out, roughly where the main floor fireplace gas insert vents. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tugboat Posted February 13 Share Posted February 13 (edited) 3 hours ago, Heimdallr said: So I did end up needing to pull out the gas fireplace insert, because there was a huge SQUIRREL in there, not a mouse. The upstairs fireplace has ash chutes connected to the basement fireplace (which is what those doors were), but I can't tell if the two fireplaces had separate exhausts or not because the basement one is sealed off now. The squirrel was stuck behind the gas insert, and would go up and down between the two levels via the ash chutes. lmao. Squirrel. Poor dude probably thought he had it made. As for the two "fireplaces" having separate exhausts...that definitely wouldn't have been a thing. But i can almost guarantee that basement one was never actually a fireplace at all. It almost certainly existed purely for your servants to go down to the basement and clean out the ash from the main floor fireplace. And the brick well was just there to support the brick chimney stack above. I just meant that, because you're talking gas inserts now...it might be possible to route an actual basement gas insert fireplace up through the main floor behind the main floor one. Depending on how much room you actually have behind it. Basically...run the vent for the basement gas insert where the Squirrel was previously. Edited February 13 by Tugboat Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vike daddy Posted February 13 Share Posted February 13 2 minutes ago, Tugboat said: But if you're talking about putting in a new Gas Fireplace insert...it's entirely possible that there would be room to route new vents up through the main floor (behind the main floor gas insert), and out, roughly where the main floor fireplace gas insert vents. possible, yes, but an extremely difficult and even potentially dangerous undertaking, if you undermine the support. as you well understand. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vike daddy Posted February 13 Share Posted February 13 (edited) 5 minutes ago, Tugboat said: But i can almost guarantee that basement one was never actually a fireplace at all. It almost certainly existed purely for your servants to go down to the basement and clean out the ash from the main floor fireplace. i'm not so sure there, Detective Tuggy... the OP states from the first post: "My 1940’s house has a basement fireplace, connected to a main floor fireplace. The main floor was converted to natural gas at some point, so the basement is now sealed off (or maybe was originally never connected to the chimney?)." now, possibly he just means his basement has a brick chimney coming down to the floor footings, but i took it to mean he has a basement fireplace, one that has an opening and can burn firewood. EDIT: @Heimdallr also writes: "but I can't tell if the two fireplaces had separate exhausts or not because the basement one is sealed off now." sort of sounds like the house has two fireplaces, or at least was originally built with two. Edited February 13 by vike daddy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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