Hi:

In the top floor condo which I recently bought there is a 52"-wide frame for a
fireplace, with a masonry chimney directly over it on the roof. But there is no
fireplace - the whole frame is completely sheetrocked. Condos to my left and
right have fireplaces, as well as a condo directly below me.

So I cut a hole in the sheetrock of the frame and what do I see: a flue pipe
for a Heatilator HD 42AI fireplace, resting on my concrete floor and going all
the way up to the roof (20 feet). This is a 10" outer pipe and 8" inner pipe,
SC300 series from Heatilator. I also see the fluepipe from the neighbor below
me who has a working Heatilator fireplace running in parallel to my pipe to the
roof.

Then I realize why they never installed a fireplace in my unit, even though
they installed a flue pipe. The frame is filled with some sort of lattice-like
massive structural support structure, made of 1/4"-thick L-shaped steel beams,
resting in the four corners of the sheetrock frame (bolted to the concrete
floor), and going up all the way to the ceiling, obviously supporting
SOMETHING. The flue pipe is in the middle of it. Because of this structure
there is no place for a 42", or even 36" fireplace. The clearance between the
massive vertical support beams is only 34". My guess is that they HAD to
support something late in construction (maybe boiler), so they used my shaft.

What WOULD fit inside that structure is a wood-burning stove. Can I use the
existing flue pipe for that? Otherwise I guess I can forget about any kind of
fireplace (there is no gas in my unit).

Thanks for any advice.