When I have a fire in my fireplace, I notice a strong smoke smell
upstairs. The smell isn't there until the upstairs A/C comes on. I went
in the attic last night, and the smell up there is awful. I think know
what the problems are, but I don't know how to fix them. Problem 1: The
top if the chimney is adjacent to a gable vent on the end of the house.
It's an older house, so the chimney isn't as tall as it should be. That
has to be how the smoke smell is getting into the attic. Problem 2: The
attic door (disappearing staircase) is right next to the return vent
for the upstairs A/C. I think that the door leaks air into the
upstairs. I'm going to put some weatherstripping on that door to
hopefully seal it, but I was also thinking about putting a piece of
heavy plastic over the gable vent on that side of the house. Is that a
bad idea? What's the best way to fix this?

In article .com, "Mike" wrote:
When I have a fire in my fireplace, I notice a strong smoke smell
upstairs. The smell isn't there until the upstairs A/C comes on. I went
in the attic last night, and the smell up there is awful. I think know
what the problems are, but I don't know how to fix them. Problem 1: The
top if the chimney is adjacent to a gable vent on the end of the house.
It's an older house, so the chimney isn't as tall as it should be. That
has to be how the smoke smell is getting into the attic. Problem 2: The
attic door (disappearing staircase) is right next to the return vent
for the upstairs A/C. I think that the door leaks air into the
upstairs. I'm going to put some weatherstripping on that door to
hopefully seal it, but I was also thinking about putting a piece of
heavy plastic over the gable vent on that side of the house. Is that a
bad idea? What's the best way to fix this?

Best way to fix it is to extend the chimney. The heavy plastic over the gable
vent is a good *temporary* measure, until you get the chimney extended.

--
Regards,
Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

It's time to throw all their damned tea in the harbor again.