Since you all seem so helpful, perhaps someone could answer this question for me. We have a floor to ceiling brick fireplace in our 1964 fixer-upper. The brick continues around the wall (about 2 ft wide) and into the hallway behind the fireplace (very odd finishes in this old house!) Anyway, this past winter when we had a nice big fire going for, say, 1/2 a day, the brick in the hallway was hot to the touch - from the floor about halfway up the wall. The 2 foot wide section where it turns was cool, but directly behind the fireplace it was hot. Now that can't be normal, can it? --Concerned about death in Puget Sound!

Fire maketh heat. Why are you surprised?

However, there should be 2 inches of clearance between the fireplace bricks and any combustible framing lumber. A small piece of wood trim is allowed to touch the fireplace, but that's the only combustible material that can.

quote:

Originally posted by Richard Hetzel:
Fire maketh heat. Why are you surprised?

However, there should be 2 inches of clearance between the fireplace bricks and any combustible framing lumber. A small piece of wood trim is allowed to touch the fireplace, but that's the only combustible material that can.

You're funny! I guess it makes sense -- I've never had a home with a whole brick wall as the fireplace -- they've always been placed on an outside wall so I never thought about it -- just seemed odd to me -- and I don't believe there's any framing wood in there -- I think they built a dang chimney brick by brick and then continued with the hallway to the bedrooms. Very oddly built house -- 5 different finishes in the entry alone - brick wall, pine paneling on one wall and drywall on the hallway wall, ugly green slate floor from front door into LR as zero clearance hearth, and oak flooring in hallway and the rest of the house plus linoleum in kitchen which is right off the entry way. So much work, so little money! Thanks for making me feel better about the heat!