We have built the chimneys on the inside since medieval times (1400s) here in Scandinavia. Mostly in aim to preserve any heat (it's cold here) but also from tradition. :)
The house was built around the fireplace and tradition in Scandinavia say that you should be able to take a walk around it. Although trough several rooms. The Children ran in a circle until someone had enough.
In Finland common people lived in so called smoke huts from the medieval times until to the beginning of the 20th century. Smoke huts did not have chimneys at all. When the stove was heated all the smoke gathered inside and it had to be aired out afterwards. Those houses were completely black from inside. Behind the link there is a Finnish smoke hut that serves as a museum: www.janakkala.fi/laurinmaki/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/IMG_6601.jpg
My mother in law lived in a log cabin as a child. The cabin had the chimney in the middle and was open to two rooms. Cabin is still standing and is in good shape.
An exterior chimney is exposed to the cold air outside the cabin. During times of no fire in the fireplace, the chimney itself becomes cold and thus the air in side the chimney is also cold. That, in turn, leads to downdrafts (air flowing DOWNWARD in the flue instead of updrafts). It gets a bit smoky in the cabin getting that downdraft to turn around and create an updraft to expel smoke from a newly lit fire. One good reason to keep the chimney in the interior of the structure... along with benefiting from greater heat retention (the chimney is a thermal mass heated by the fire which stays warm after the fire extinguishes).
Also thre chimnrey as it cools down doesn´t draw when used again as the built up moisture makes a gas lock plus also makes a chimney more fragile and soots so chimney fires are constant. Overhere in Finland it would be even forbidden to build a s.c. american chimney nowadays. Emission and safety regulations would make it impossible.
An exterior chimney reduces the need for flashing around a roof penetration, and if it starts to shift or lean over time, it is more apparent and can can be taken apart and rebuilt without disrupting the houses structure. On land that is rarely surveyed to depth structures shift and dense stone structures shift more than distributed timber ones. A well built chimney incorporating a simple modern design element, a heating exchanging firebox liner wastes very little energy heating the mass of the chimney compared to the heat lost through traditional ventilation of an interior centrally located fireplace.
Thanks Noah! This was the first video I've seen from you and I was impressed there was no clickbait, or waiting for info, or bullshit. You got right into talking about the awesome external chimney. I learned a lot and you have a new subscriber. Thanks for sharing your knowledge!
Thank you! I do like to mention my course offerings in some of these videos... but.. I always make it the last thing on the video... I don't want to ever be "salesy"... but I do like to let folks know that I offer comprehensive courses too.
@@HandmadeHouseswithNoahBradley those are completelly acceptable. you could do it more often and nobody noticed. greetings from finland, winterwonderland.
As a brick and stone Mason of 35 years of chimney building experienc, it is a hell of a lot easier to build a chimney up an exterior wall than through the middle of the house. Scaffolding can be erected directly off the ground all the way to the top of the chimney (minimum 15' but I have gone as high as 54'). Material can be delivered to outside scaffold by forklift tractor or by hand and improvised hoisting system much easier than having to pass materials mostly by hand up through various levels of a house. Floors of the house aren't in the way of the masons and they can work with scaffold boards adjusted to optimal heights; interior scaffolds necessitate working above your head or reaching down below your feet through an opening in the floor which you had just previously used to pass up and stockpile tons of materials needed for the subsequent story's section of the chimney requiring extra temporary structural support for the overloaded floor or ceiling on which the material sits. An interior chimney presents a challenge to building a safe scaffold on a steep pitched roof and problems getting materials up the roof to the scaffold. Also roofs and floors need to be protected from mortar droppings and brick or stone fragments as many times they (the floors, walls, or roofs) are finished or nearly finished surfaces. These things simply fall to the ground and are easily cleaned up after construction when everything is done off an exterior scaffold.
@@jaywoods7322 I would have loved to build it first as soon as the foundation was in but everywhere I went, Texas, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Northern Virginia, Louisiana, Mayland, and Mississippi the builders insist on getting the framers and the roofers in first and ignore your protests even when you offer to do the job considerably cheaper if they let you go first. One of their excuses is that you won't get the chimney built right to fit through the house and receive the flashing at the roof line as though you're too stupid to figure it out from the plan drawings. After much pleading and explaining, I could usually but not always persuade them to hold off on the section of roof around the chimney so that I could build the scaffold off the last story floor up through the ceiling joist and roof rafters before the roofers finished. The roofers cried a lot about this because they wanted to slam dunk the whole job without having to come back for a loser of a day piddling around finishing the roof and flashing the chimney. They usually didn't get as much respect as the framers; the framers always got what they wanted. When they refused and the roof was already complete, we usually had to nail into the roof (not too bad with wood shingles, asphalt shingles a bit more trouble to avoid leaks, and with metal roofing almost impossible). Then, as though you can lay brick without dropping one spec of mortar which stains the roof you have to cover with plastic or felt paper to protect the roof. Experienced builders understood that mortar stains on a wood roof disappear after 6 months but they don't want to wait 6 months to sell it to their buyers that don't understand it. On asphalt a little muriatic acid will do wonders if the aggregate in the shingles doesn't change color from it. Then if you don't slip and fall off the roof while you're building veneer Jack's off the 2x4's you had to nail into the roof, you might finish the chimney before OSHA sees what a Jake leg scaffold you're working from. I have occasionally been able to erect scaffold frames up the near side of the house, extend long scaffold boards to the roof, then build another scaffold over those boards, use long boards again over to the roof, and repeat the process in a stairstep fashion until you get to where the chimney is located. This is using $5000 worth of scaffold to do $300 worth of work. Pretty dumb when all you have to do is like you say. Let the Mason go first.
@@markenge9348 Your building experience is from a very different time period. Imagine you arrive at your land with a wife and mabe a kid or two. The first shelter you build is for your 2 horses or oxen and a cow or 2, because if they are not in good shape your all done. You spend the first winter or 2 sleeping with the the critters and while it may be a bit stinky they put off a fair amount of heat, good thing because with the hay around you could not have any fire inside, cooking was done outside. When you get some time to build a house, the plans you speak of would be scratched, full size in the dirt with a stick, no contractors no inspectors and no OSHA, you could build it any way you liked because if it fell down you only had to look into a bucket of water to find who was to blame.
One more reason for an outside Chimney, is because settlers built their homesteads in stages, while clearing land, stacking rocks, and drying logs for building, all while still living in and out of the Conestoga Wagon in which they travelled. They would continue to cook outdoors, until after the Harvest, where they could use the money from the sale of the Crops to buy Cement for building the Chimney, the Fireplace/Oven, Metal Hinges for a real door, (instead of maybe a heavy woolen blanket they had been using for a door), and real glass for windows. All of these things would be added after the Harvest, with Winter on the way, so the Chimney was built onto an already constructed Cabin, with one, or maybe no windows, and one door. It was easier to add the Chimney on to the end of the Cabin, and put the Fireplace/Oven on the end wall, where a space had been left for that purpose. This told to me by my Father, who was born to a Farming Family, in a "Little House On The Prairie" in North Dakota, and lived there in the late 1920's, moved to and was raised in Minnesota, in a home that originally had a dirt floor. The very first homes of many people were Grass or Turf homes called "Soddy's". This also allowed for additions to be made to the home, on the other side of the Chimney, which would leave the Fireplace and Chimney in the middle of the home.
Thank you so much for that info. It really puts the puzzle together, gives me a much better picture of it. I work on old buildings on farms and such , stone mason , so I’m always trying to imagine it in the beginning
@@HandmadeHouseswithNoahBradley Scandinavians and other northern people have been building them inside for centuries so as not to waste all the thermal mass and our homes are dry. You just have to know what you're doing. As for cooking in summer most have outside stone or cob ovens
The truth is that the chimney catches fire it can be pushed over and fall away from the house! And in the southern United States we often had a separate kitchen in a attached room separated from the main house by a breezeway in the older homes built pre air conditioning if you see a older home what is often assumed to be a laundry room is in fact the original kitchen!
My grandfather did exactly that back around 1940, he had to chop a hole through the roof of a c. 1800 house with ridge beam, and the first blow of the axe, hit a rafter in the dark and the head came back and knocked him in the head and he almost passed out, luckily it was a single bit axe and he would never touch a double bit axe after that, saying it could have killed him especially with the house on fire. He saved the house, and his landlord only bitched about the damage and said its as well insured anyways.
I grew up w/a wood/coal stove (mountains in NW Spain)...never saw a wooden house until I came to Amerika in the late 60s....or a house w/the chimney outside....the chimney itself provided a lot of heat.....
Early fireplace hearths were so much more wide and deep so one could swing their pots in and out and also so the popping embers didn't land inside your home. Luved your ending narrative Noah. Your so right, it is the asthetics and engineering. They are magnificently beautiful. From a new subscriber. I really enjoy your channel. Thank you for sharing.
It's an American thing. It's cheaper and convenient! My family is from Germany. A fireplace should be built on the inside of the house. No home built with a fireplace should be built on the outside. That should be a national code. Also, all fireplaces should be made masonry heater style or rocket mass heater style. Period. These are at the safest wood burning products. Get rid of Wood burning stoves because of the creosote. All homes should also be net zero or passive design. Let's get this organized and stop the waste.
Good information. Some of the old farms here in Ga still have the original house the was build many years ago. The Chimney being on the outside. Heartpine lumber proly sawn right there on the farm, still remains so beautiful. Ive seen a few with Chimneys in the middle of the house with a fire box on both sides. The kitchen would have a small Chimney one the outside with a stove pipe hole about head high, for the Woodstove. Some kitchens were built away from the house with a walk way. Grandma said it kept the house from getting so hot in the summer. Also in case of fire maybe it wouldnt get to the main living area.
My father built the house I grew up in back in 1979/1980, and the house is primarily heated by a woodstove with an internal cinder block and tile lined chimney. He said that the reason for building it internally prevented the chimney from getting too cold or having a large differential temperature between the outside and inside, reducing condensation of flue gases and reducing the build up of creosote (which if not cleaned off can cause chimney fires). We clean the chimney each year at the start of the season (woodstove runs constantly from Thanksgiving to ~ mid-March), and we don't see much creosote buildup at all. Anecdotally, we think an internal chimney is safer.
@@mikatamminen2786Not that I'm aware, no. Some Scotch, some eastern European (Polish, maybe Ukrainian?). Really just European mutts as best I can tell, so maybe Finn is in there too. I haven't run an Ancestry and don't plan to.
Here in Canada many homes/cottages have a massive stone fireplace in the center of the house, there is a ton of lost radiant heat lost to a fireplace on the outside of the home, esp at -40c. As well, the Russian stove is a fireplace central to the home and it heats a home in -70
Wow, that’s what I’m searching for, examples of fireplaces in the middle of the home. Never seen that even here in Canada. Makes more sense than a chimney on the exterior wall of the house. Like you said, -20? Ya. Keep that heat inside!
In the far north country, below zero *F temps wreck havoc with the construction and maintenance of chimneys on the outside of a house. In the past, it was a hazard but these days -- if you can afford the higher maintenance -- there is no reason you can't have one. Except that it's a waste of recoverable heat. :)
For those citing European houses with interior chimneys, it's worth pointing out that those cultures were far more established in masonry given the long history of European nations. Even small communities in Europe had local masonry supply, skill and materials because they had been doing it for centuries before the American continent was first settled. In most cases, rural cabins in North America during the 17th and 18th centuries were very isolated and built by people with very limited financial means and they had to use local materials for their homes. Those materials had to be quarried and hauled manually. In addition to felling local timber, they had to rely on stones and rocks from either streams or rocky hillsides. This made for crude chimney building and, as the author mentioned, they were not always air tight. Anyone who has ever mortared a rock wall or true rock chimney knows how challenging it is - and that's using modern caulking guns and air extruders.
Chimneys show in Europe in the 1100's and they had a huge impact on interior rooms in castles becoming smaller. It's right up there with glass on how much it impacts interior design. The Indian's settled the America's over 27,000 years ago, and from Spainish descriptions their cities were as good as anything in Europe.
I lived in a colonial house in New Hampshire built in 1770 with five fireplaces (one in each room) and a beehive oven all in a central three flue monsterous chimney. It still had the original single pane windows......and it was cold! Of course we had a woodstove inserted into the main fireplace but on -20*F windy nights it was a struggle to maintain 50* F. Thanks for the video.
This 'outside' chimney is an terrible idea for a northern house. It might be a bit easier to build but it results in a insane waste of wood to burn in winter. A massive 'inside' stove (and chimney) is supposed to accumulate energy while wood is burning. So your house can stay warm all night long. Otherwise you have to burn wood 24*7 outside spending most of it trying to warm the Universe ;-) P.S. I'm Russian and I know a bit about cold winters :-)
The chimney also identifies which of the buildings is the HOUSE, as opposed to a shed, barn, or stable. The cabin with the chimney is where the people are.
It needs to be stressed that a chimney on the INSIDE will draw / draft much, much better than one on the outside. Also, creosote is much less for reasons I can't explain quickly here. ALL chimneys AFTER the year 1900 should be inside the home and not even close to an outside wall. What do we see today... "new home construction" with them on the outside. I understand what he is saying about aesthetics, but how many home builders are building historic looking things like that with real stone?
There's talk in Ireland about banning chimneys on all new houses in the next few years, protecting the environment no burning of fossil fuels , coal, peat, wood etc.. We are going "green" as it were. (Not like we need to get any greener.....).
Don't let them fool you. Electric heat might be a good thing. What happens when it fails? Keeping a centuries old, proven source of heat available is a good idea.
@@kenycharles8600 totally agree with you not long ago we had a small hurricane and thousands of homes lost electricity for over a week. Only for our fire we would have had no heat, and if we had electric cars we probably couldn't of left to get provisions..... Technology is good in theory but we live in the real world where things break down and don't work.... There always has to be a plan B.
Allowed for external air and ash clean out opening. Open in winter to eliminate drawing cold air into house through door and cracks. Closed in summer allowing cool air to be drawn in through door and windows.
Many Colonial Salt Box & Cape Cod houses built during the 1600s had a broad central chimney--- open front & back onto kitchen and living room--- a particularly cozy set up. I have seen pictures of historic log cabins with this large central fireplace---: those usually also have porches the full length of the building: a passive solar design like the Salt Box. There's a tavern in Montana with 3 logs to a wall (Western Red Cedar/bark on), and photos of pioneer cabins in Ohio with 3 tulip poplar to a wall.
The look is superior for sure, however, I have fought with exterior chimneys not drawing properly (because they are cold) and will never do so again. It is just not worth the smoke back and carbon monoxide risk. All it takes is one day with the wrong type of barometric pressure and not enough wind and you have a house full of poison gases and smoke. Interior chimneys today are very safe and function far superior to exterior wall chimneys. In this case I believe function trumps form.
The chimney looks great Noah ...... and for all the right reasons ......... you do a great job & are very inspirational . Will send you pictures of our first attempt before too long .
The chimney and the building were erected at different times. As far as design goes, it was easily added to the side of an existing building. I have doubts to whether beauty or space-saving had much to do with it.
The Brits built a huge chimney block of red brick in the middle of the house, kitchen dining and food prep on one side and sleeping room(s) on the other. The huge mass of warm brick kept the house warm all night. Log cabins are small and cold. There was no room for a decent chimney block with fireplaces on both sides.
What it all, actually, boils down to is that the log cabins were built, before the chimneys, for shelter. It wasn't uncommon for them to have a fire pit in the center of the house, for a while. Also, the cabins were so small, with very limited room and a massive fireplace, inside, would have been impractical. If you look at the colonial farmhouses, you will notice that they had multiple chimneys, throughout the house.
Sorry I missed the 4 names you used to say at the end of the video. ;-) But thanks for the video's I'm so interested that I almost can't wait for the instructional videos for construction. It is good to learn patients
I've been working on some ideas lately on how to demonstrate more, while I'm still in this preparatory phase of my next home... look for that in future episodes. Thank you for your patience!
am reading now "Little house in the prairie" and I had not could get why Pa had done chimney outside. now I have figured out. But I want to know why he used saplings from the wood, which he plastered them with mud, and he build wals on the top of chimney . I have a doubt about protection of fire wood with mud. When I was a child I did wood coal from wood stick and mud in the fire. I think it would be destroy after short time, is not it?
Handmade House...; I subscribed to your channel here. I am a retired code certified home inspector and long time home renovator... I can always learn something new :-)
The Romans invented concrete in 300 BC, so in areas where concrete or other suitable resources were widely available inside chimneys were likely more popular (especially in super cold countries). Colonial America was different as people had to make homes using only the local resources and often even nails were difficult to acquire.
@Oftin Wong the first thing you got twisted was your comment that every thing we knew (you spelled knew new) about Europe we lost in one generation. We settled this country in 1620 and was under European rule for 150 years before we declared our Independence so we hardly forgot shit about Europe. America has been the leader in almost every thing for the last 200 years. Europe and the rest of the world owes it's freedom that it has today to America. If not for America Europe would be under Nazi Germany rule so we got that going for us. America pays more aid to other countries than any other country. We fight every other countries fight for them because they either can't or wont. I could go on for hours but I don't have time to school you in history.
Hi noah. We ve decided to have a wood burner on inside but love that chimney. Our solution, build the chimney but have the fireplace on the outside so we can enjoy those crisp autumn evenings. The question is, how thick might the inner stone layer have to be to not char the logs on the inside? If that makes sense. Maybe you have some experience with this or could help us find a safe solution. Thanks.
I'm not exactly certain if I understand the question James... but I can say that building codes and building inspectors will prevent anything from being built that will prevent charring. And if you are in one of those areas that doesn't require permits and inspections... congratulations!... but... with regard to building fireplaces and chimneys it's a good idea to comply with these standards anyway for safety sake.
Did houses in a mountainous setting like this have any grass in the yard? I ask that question as someone who grew up with a milk cow roaming in the yard.
Grass doesn't like to grow in heavily wooded areas. Thanks for sharing! Love the idea of a cow roaming the yard. I was fortunate to experience cows growing up... but they would be quickly in trouble if spotted in the yard.
Cows need a lot of grass. Unless you had a huge farm with an enormous lawn, I'll bet that milk cow mostly ate hay, not grass, and you didn't play much in the cows' yard. Goats would do better within a predator free mountains wooded area than cows, and produce more milk and meat per pound of forage than cows.
A chimney can be appreciated on the inside of a home where it can give of heat after the fire is out and it will last much longer since it is not exposed to freeze/thaw cycles. Mainly we have double insulated chimney pipe now because labor costs for stone and brick work are too high. My masonry chimney is in the middle of my house and I will be building a rocket/batch mass heater for maximum efficiency.
Better question: Why do so many houses built before 1950 on back have the 2 little windows on either side of the chimney, like yours (and mine)? Thanks!!!
The main reason was why put a hole in your roof ? Wooden shingles..Tar patch wasn't available in the 1800's... We forget that there's no plastic , no synthetics , no polyester in the early days... Even today, special precautions are made if you put a chimney through your roof for it not to leak.
I wonder how much awareness there was of what we now know to be carbon monoxide. Folks certainly worried about "bad air". It would not have taken very many stories of the children in the attic being sickened (or worse) while sleeping next to a leaky interior chimney to foster a bias against interior chimneys. Are dry-laid chimneys found primarily in warmer regions? It seems to me that only a well-sealed chimney would be safe in colder areas, where any windows would need to be closed at night.
I want to build a chimney like that and I have a question: which side of a house? The prevalent wind direction is from the west followed by from northwest and from the north. South wall seems to have the most advantages because the smoke and sparks will not be pushed on the roof and the walls of chimney will be warmed up by the sun diminishing backdraft.
full of idiotism to build it outside...firstly they pollute as the fireplace is colder and give less heat. If one cant build a safe fireplace inside do not build one at all. And chimney fires is result of not knowing how to use one. Yes I´m Finnish and had 5 fireplaces in my home as a kid.
Its a beautiful little cabin with a beautiful view of the chimney. It makes ot look so homey and cozy. Id love to know how you bult your cabin if you ever feel like Doing another video
In New France and until the beginning of the 20th century chimneys were built on the inside of the house. Either right in the middle, or adorning an exterior walls. Sometimes there would be one chimney on each exterior wall if the house was large enough.
I will have a Rocket Mass fire place mine the inside. Just not be stupid enough to start a fire. Then just build a pizza oven and Rocket Mass Stove on the outside.
Chimneys were made from wattle and daub mud lined in the old days……..goes up quick and can build with stone when time and labor permits……in the the warm climates the had kitchens detached from the house……so as not to heat the house…….
There are other obvious reasons. First it saves space inside the house since a chimney is quite voluminous. Second, it is harder to waterproof the contour of the chimney on the roof!
I live in rural Mississippi and I own Seven Acres that has Loblolly yellowpine matured between 16 and 20 in in diameter. I have probably about 2,000 of these trees to choose from. I don't have any heavy machinery and everything I would do I would have to do by hand and by wench. I only have one person to help me in that's my wife. We have no family and no friends here. I am intimidated. However I am strong I'm a hard worker and I am a brick and block Mason. I'm having a hard time pulling the trigger. Do you believe Loblolly yellow pine is sufficient for building a log home? I enjoy your videos and I will continue to watch them. My intimidation is still getting the best of me
A few years ago I set up one there... but it never went anywhere and I felt a bit like a round peg in a world of square holes... perhaps I should look into that more (when I find the time).
A downdraft woodfire could draw air from outdoors to feed the fire. The smoke would be pulled down to a smoke channel (K'ang) underneath the ground to a smoke shed, where meats could be smoke preserved. Then again, the hot smoke could be channeled underneath a Scandinavian hottub😃
Early American colonial homes prior to the American Revolution in the Northeast had Center chimneys to utilize the heat as much as possible. During the federal period many homes started putting the chimneys on the outside primarily for fire protection. It was about survival in the early days.
Good video, makes sense that if you had a chimney fire to pull the chimney over. Much easer to rebuild the chimney in January than rebuild your house. I think Happy is talking about Russian Stoves . there are some cool you tube about them.
What is a good exterior base dimension for a chimney. I think I read or heard you say 6ft wide at the base, is that correct? And how do you determine the fireplace width inside? thanks, Laura
Laura, it seems almost all chimneys in my area are 6ft by 3ft. A nice touch on a lot of vintage chimneys is a flared bottom where the chimney will come out of the ground 7ft by 3and a half feet and then at about a foot high will quickly taper in. I make the fireplace as wide as I can within the confines of the chimney that is built.
Thank you for the info. I believe I read that about the fireplaces/chimneys on your handmade houses website but wanted to confirm. I have been taken notes and trying to get as much info. as possible before we start building. I don't like to rush into anything and especially be uninformed. You continue to be a big help, thanks again!!!
In cold regions of Europe it's built on the inside, integrated with cooking stove, oven and heating ducts.
That’s interesting
That is also true in many places in Canada. I have had owned many houses with a chimney internal to the building.
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Slava Ukraine 🇺🇦
We have built the chimneys on the inside since medieval times (1400s) here in Scandinavia.
Mostly in aim to preserve any heat (it's cold here) but also from tradition. :)
And for cold climates, like where you live, and in the northern US it's a smart place to put it!
The house was built around the fireplace and tradition in Scandinavia say that you should be able to take a walk around it. Although trough several rooms. The Children ran in a circle until someone had enough.
Fånge 1056
Why do they put the dunny on the INSIDE!?
don't like to get a cold azz !!!
In Finland common people lived in so called smoke huts from the medieval times until to the beginning of the 20th century. Smoke huts did not have chimneys at all. When the stove was heated all the smoke gathered inside and it had to be aired out afterwards. Those houses were completely black from inside. Behind the link there is a Finnish smoke hut that serves as a museum: www.janakkala.fi/laurinmaki/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/IMG_6601.jpg
My mother in law lived in a log cabin as a child. The cabin had the chimney in the middle and was open to two rooms. Cabin is still standing and is in good shape.
An exterior chimney is exposed to the cold air outside the cabin. During times of no fire in the fireplace, the chimney itself becomes cold and thus the air in side the chimney is also cold. That, in turn, leads to downdrafts (air flowing DOWNWARD in the flue instead of updrafts). It gets a bit smoky in the cabin getting that downdraft to turn around and create an updraft to expel smoke from a newly lit fire. One good reason to keep the chimney in the interior of the structure... along with benefiting from greater heat retention (the chimney is a thermal mass heated by the fire which stays warm after the fire extinguishes).
Also thre chimnrey as it cools down doesn´t draw when used again as the built up moisture makes a gas lock plus also makes a chimney more fragile and soots so chimney fires are constant. Overhere in Finland it would be even forbidden to build a s.c. american chimney nowadays. Emission and safety regulations would make it impossible.
An exterior chimney reduces the need for flashing around a roof penetration, and if it starts to shift or lean over time, it is more apparent and can can be taken apart and rebuilt without disrupting the houses structure. On land that is rarely surveyed to depth structures shift and dense stone structures shift more than distributed timber ones.
A well built chimney incorporating a simple modern design element, a heating exchanging firebox liner wastes very little energy heating the mass of the chimney compared to the heat lost through traditional ventilation of an interior centrally located fireplace.
Thanks Noah! This was the first video I've seen from you and I was impressed there was no clickbait, or waiting for info, or bullshit. You got right into talking about the awesome external chimney. I learned a lot and you have a new subscriber. Thanks for sharing your knowledge!
Thank you!
I do like to mention my course offerings in some of these videos... but.. I always make it the last thing on the video... I don't want to ever be "salesy"... but I do like to let folks know that I offer comprehensive courses too.
@@HandmadeHouseswithNoahBradley those are completelly acceptable. you could do it more often and nobody noticed. greetings from finland, winterwonderland.
My father said they would hook a horse to the chimney and pull it down if it was on fire .Its what they did in Indiana .
Your father is correct!
As a brick and stone Mason of 35 years of chimney building experienc, it is a hell of a lot easier to build a chimney up an exterior wall than through the middle of the house. Scaffolding can be erected directly off the ground all the way to the top of the chimney (minimum 15' but I have gone as high as 54'). Material can be delivered to outside scaffold by forklift tractor or by hand and improvised hoisting system much easier than having to pass materials mostly by hand up through various levels of a house. Floors of the house aren't in the way of the masons and they can work with scaffold boards adjusted to optimal heights; interior scaffolds necessitate working above your head or reaching down below your feet through an opening in the floor which you had just previously used to pass up and stockpile tons of materials needed for the subsequent story's section of the chimney requiring extra temporary structural support for the overloaded floor or ceiling on which the material sits. An interior chimney presents a challenge to building a safe scaffold on a steep pitched roof and problems getting materials up the roof to the scaffold. Also roofs and floors need to be protected from mortar droppings and brick or stone fragments as many times they (the floors, walls, or roofs) are finished or nearly finished surfaces. These things simply fall to the ground and are easily cleaned up after construction when everything is done off an exterior scaffold.
That is why the chimney would be built first and used as a support for the roof.
@@jaywoods7322 I would have loved to build it first as soon as the foundation was in but everywhere I went, Texas, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Northern Virginia, Louisiana, Mayland, and Mississippi the builders insist on getting the framers and the roofers in first and ignore your protests even when you offer to do the job considerably cheaper if they let you go first. One of their excuses is that you won't get the chimney built right to fit through the house and receive the flashing at the roof line as though you're too stupid to figure it out from the plan drawings. After much pleading and explaining, I could usually but not always persuade them to hold off on the section of roof around the chimney so that I could build the scaffold off the last story floor up through the ceiling joist and roof rafters before the roofers finished. The roofers cried a lot about this because they wanted to slam dunk the whole job without having to come back for a loser of a day piddling around finishing the roof and flashing the chimney. They usually didn't get as much respect as the framers; the framers always got what they wanted. When they refused and the roof was already complete, we usually had to nail into the roof (not too bad with wood shingles, asphalt shingles a bit more trouble to avoid leaks, and with metal roofing almost impossible). Then, as though you can lay brick without dropping one spec of mortar which stains the roof you have to cover with plastic or felt paper to protect the roof. Experienced builders understood that mortar stains on a wood roof disappear after 6 months but they don't want to wait 6 months to sell it to their buyers that don't understand it. On asphalt a little muriatic acid will do wonders if the aggregate in the shingles doesn't change color from it. Then if you don't slip and fall off the roof while you're building veneer Jack's off the 2x4's you had to nail into the roof, you might finish the chimney before OSHA sees what a Jake leg scaffold you're working from. I have occasionally been able to erect scaffold frames up the near side of the house, extend long scaffold boards to the roof, then build another scaffold over those boards, use long boards again over to the roof, and repeat the process in a stairstep fashion until you get to where the chimney is located. This is using $5000 worth of scaffold to do $300 worth of work. Pretty dumb when all you have to do is like you say. Let the Mason go first.
@@markenge9348 Your building experience is from a very different time period.
Imagine you arrive at your land with a wife and mabe a kid or two. The first shelter you build is for your 2 horses or oxen and a cow or 2, because if they are not in good shape your all done. You spend the first winter or 2 sleeping with the the critters and while it may be a bit stinky they put off a fair amount of heat, good thing because with the hay around you could not have any fire inside, cooking was done outside. When you get some time to build a house, the plans you speak of would be scratched, full size in the dirt with a stick, no contractors no inspectors and no OSHA, you could build it any way you liked because if it fell down you only had to look into a bucket of water to find who was to blame.
One more reason for an outside Chimney, is because settlers built their homesteads in stages,
while clearing land, stacking rocks, and drying logs for building,
all while still living in and out of the Conestoga Wagon in which they travelled.
They would continue to cook outdoors, until after the Harvest,
where they could use the money from the sale of the Crops to buy Cement for building the Chimney,
the Fireplace/Oven, Metal Hinges for a real door, (instead of maybe a heavy woolen blanket they had been using for a door), and real glass for windows.
All of these things would be added after the Harvest,
with Winter on the way, so the Chimney was built onto an already constructed Cabin,
with one, or maybe no windows, and one door.
It was easier to add the Chimney on to the end of the Cabin, and put the Fireplace/Oven on the end wall,
where a space had been left for that purpose.
This told to me by my Father, who was born to a Farming Family, in a "Little House On The Prairie" in North Dakota,
and lived there in the late 1920's, moved to and was raised in Minnesota, in a home that originally had a dirt floor.
The very first homes of many people were Grass or Turf homes called "Soddy's".
This also allowed for additions to be made to the home, on the other side of the Chimney,
which would leave the Fireplace and Chimney in the middle of the home.
Thank you so much for that info. It really puts the puzzle together, gives me a much better picture of it. I work on old buildings on farms and such , stone mason , so I’m always trying to imagine it in the beginning
one reason is simply the complexity of the wood working required to get the chimney inside .. roofing around a chimney is hard... with basic materials
So true. Anytime something pokes through a roof it is a challenge to keep it from leaking.
@@HandmadeHouseswithNoahBradley Scandinavians and other northern people have been building them inside for centuries so as not to waste all the thermal mass and our homes are dry. You just have to know what you're doing. As for cooking in summer most have outside stone or cob ovens
The truth is that the chimney catches fire it can be pushed over and fall away from the house! And in the southern United States we often had a separate kitchen in a attached room separated from the main house by a breezeway in the older homes built pre air conditioning if you see a older home what is often assumed to be a laundry room is in fact the original kitchen!
Roy Perkins I just love historic Southern homes with the dog trots, transoms over the doorways, and second outdoor kitchens.
My grandfather did exactly that back around 1940, he had to chop a hole through the roof of a c. 1800 house with ridge beam, and the first blow of the axe, hit a rafter in the dark and the head came back and knocked him in the head and he almost passed out, luckily it was a single bit axe and he would never touch a double bit axe after that, saying it could have killed him especially with the house on fire. He saved the house, and his landlord only bitched about the damage and said its as well insured anyways.
@@LinnTractorNut Good story. :)
on some of the early homesteads in New Zealand there was a separate cavity on the outside of the chimney also for cooking outside as well.
The efficient Germans built them in the center of the house.
I grew up w/a wood/coal stove (mountains in NW Spain)...never saw a wooden house until I came to Amerika in the late 60s....or a house w/the chimney outside....the chimney itself provided a lot of heat.....
Deckie Deckie Galician maybe?
Early fireplace hearths were so much more wide and deep so one could swing their pots in and out and also so the popping embers didn't land inside your home. Luved your ending narrative Noah. Your so right, it is the asthetics and engineering. They are magnificently beautiful. From a new subscriber. I really enjoy your channel. Thank you for sharing.
It's an American thing. It's cheaper and convenient! My family is from Germany. A fireplace should be built on the inside of the house.
No home built with a fireplace should be built on the outside. That should be a national code. Also, all fireplaces should be made masonry heater style or rocket mass heater style. Period. These are at the safest wood burning products. Get rid of Wood burning stoves because of the creosote.
All homes should also be net zero or passive design.
Let's get this organized and stop the waste.
Good information. Some of the old farms here in Ga still have the original house the was build many years ago. The Chimney being on the outside. Heartpine lumber proly sawn right there on the farm, still remains so beautiful. Ive seen a few with Chimneys in the middle of the house with a fire box on both sides.
The kitchen would have a small Chimney one the outside with a stove pipe hole about head high, for the Woodstove. Some kitchens were built away from the house with a walk way. Grandma said it kept the house from getting so hot in the summer. Also in case of fire maybe it wouldnt get to the main living area.
I thought it was to save space since the cabins are already small to begin with.
@Bert Clayton perhaps somewhere they had, even back then, some people handing out "guidelines" as laws or whatever, restricting the life of people.
My father built the house I grew up in back in 1979/1980, and the house is primarily heated by a woodstove with an internal cinder block and tile lined chimney. He said that the reason for building it internally prevented the chimney from getting too cold or having a large differential temperature between the outside and inside, reducing condensation of flue gases and reducing the build up of creosote (which if not cleaned off can cause chimney fires). We clean the chimney each year at the start of the season (woodstove runs constantly from Thanksgiving to ~ mid-March), and we don't see much creosote buildup at all. Anecdotally, we think an internal chimney is safer.
it is. correct on all counts. Have you any Finnish ancestors?
@@mikatamminen2786Not that I'm aware, no. Some Scotch, some eastern European (Polish, maybe Ukrainian?). Really just European mutts as best I can tell, so maybe Finn is in there too. I haven't run an Ancestry and don't plan to.
Here in Canada many homes/cottages have a massive stone fireplace in the center of the house, there is a ton of lost radiant heat lost to a fireplace on the outside of the home, esp at -40c. As well, the Russian stove is a fireplace central to the home and it heats a home in -70
Wow, that’s what I’m searching for, examples of fireplaces in the middle of the home. Never seen that even here in Canada. Makes more sense than a chimney on the exterior wall of the house. Like you said, -20? Ya. Keep that heat inside!
Now, with modern security, you can build chimneys inside, the home.
It's better for efficiency.
Thanks Noah! Great information. I too love the sight of a beautifully constructed chimney on the exterior of a home.
I’m a huge fan of not only old homes, but all about time before modernization.
In the far north country, below zero *F temps wreck havoc with the construction and maintenance of chimneys on the outside of a house. In the past, it was a hazard but these days -- if you can afford the higher maintenance -- there is no reason you can't have one. Except that it's a waste of recoverable heat. :)
Good point... If I was lived in the far north, beyond a doubt, I'd have that chimney inside with me!
To save space, specially with these small cabins.
For those citing European houses with interior chimneys, it's worth pointing out that those cultures were far more established in masonry given the long history of European nations. Even small communities in Europe had local masonry supply, skill and materials because they had been doing it for centuries before the American continent was first settled.
In most cases, rural cabins in North America during the 17th and 18th centuries were very isolated and built by people with very limited financial means and they had to use local materials for their homes. Those materials had to be quarried and hauled manually. In addition to felling local timber, they had to rely on stones and rocks from either streams or rocky hillsides. This made for crude chimney building and, as the author mentioned, they were not always air tight. Anyone who has ever mortared a rock wall or true rock chimney knows how challenging it is - and that's using modern caulking guns and air extruders.
Chimneys show in Europe in the 1100's and they had a huge impact on interior rooms in castles
becoming smaller. It's right up there with glass on how much it impacts interior design. The Indian's settled the America's over 27,000 years ago, and from Spainish descriptions their cities were as good as anything in Europe.
@@readhistory2023 idk about that one
I lived in a colonial house in New Hampshire built in 1770 with five fireplaces (one in each room) and a beehive oven all in a central three flue monsterous chimney. It still had the original single pane windows......and it was cold! Of course we had a woodstove inserted into the main fireplace but on -20*F windy nights it was a struggle to maintain 50* F. Thanks for the video.
What town??
German, central and eastern European and Russian settlers had masonry stoves. Worked better than Rumsford style fireplaces.
This 'outside' chimney is an terrible idea for a northern house. It might be a bit easier to build but it results in a insane waste of wood to burn in winter. A massive 'inside' stove (and chimney) is supposed to accumulate energy while wood is burning. So your house can stay warm all night long. Otherwise you have to burn wood 24*7 outside spending most of it trying to warm the Universe ;-) P.S. I'm Russian and I know a bit about cold winters :-)
Your cabin is adorable! I always figured that house fires were the main reason why chimneys were built on the outside!😁
The chimney also identifies which of the buildings is the HOUSE, as opposed to a shed, barn, or stable. The cabin with the chimney is where the people are.
So you're saying that people wouldn't see the chimney sticking up out of the roof? Or the smoke rising?
Stables never have fireplaces in the US?
thats a gorgeous chimney you have
In the Baltics all the houses with wood heating have inside chimneys, usually at the center of the house
I agree, that certainly is a handsome chimney.
Thank you! (It's one of my favorites too.)
It needs to be stressed that a chimney on the INSIDE will draw / draft much, much better than one on the outside. Also, creosote is much less for reasons I can't explain quickly here. ALL chimneys AFTER the year 1900 should be inside the home and not even close to an outside wall. What do we see today... "new home construction" with them on the outside. I understand what he is saying about aesthetics, but how many home builders are building historic looking things like that with real stone?
I live in Maine and it can get really cold on an overnight in the Summer.
Fellow Mainer here in pittston.
There's talk in Ireland about banning chimneys on all new houses in the next few years, protecting the environment no burning of fossil fuels , coal, peat, wood etc.. We are going "green" as it were. (Not like we need to get any greener.....).
Don't let them fool you. Electric heat might be a good thing. What happens when it fails? Keeping a centuries old, proven source of heat available is a good idea.
@@kenycharles8600 totally agree with you not long ago we had a small hurricane and thousands of homes lost electricity for over a week. Only for our fire we would have had no heat, and if we had electric cars we probably couldn't of left to get provisions..... Technology is good in theory but we live in the real world where things break down and don't work.... There always has to be a plan B.
Hello! I just found this channel! I love it--well done. Can't wait to buy some property in Michigan so that I may build my log cabin!
Thanks!!! There are few things in life better than building ones own log cabin!
Living the dream!
Allowed for external air and ash clean out opening. Open in winter to eliminate drawing cold air into house through door and cracks. Closed in summer allowing cool air to be drawn in through door and windows.
Our chimney in California is on the inside. The house we are buying in Tennessee has 2 chimneys on the inside as well.
Many Colonial Salt Box & Cape Cod houses built during the 1600s had a broad central chimney--- open front & back onto kitchen and living room--- a particularly cozy set up.
I have seen pictures of historic log cabins with this large central fireplace---: those usually also have porches the full length of the building: a passive solar design like the Salt Box.
There's a tavern in Montana with 3 logs to a wall (Western Red Cedar/bark on), and photos of pioneer cabins in Ohio with 3 tulip poplar to a wall.
Thanks for sharing!
This is a question I have asked for decades. Thank you for some responsible answers.
The look is superior for sure, however, I have fought with exterior chimneys not drawing properly (because they are cold) and will never do so again. It is just not worth the smoke back and carbon monoxide risk. All it takes is one day with the wrong type of barometric pressure and not enough wind and you have a house full of poison gases and smoke. Interior chimneys today are very safe and function far superior to exterior wall chimneys. In this case I believe function trumps form.
I have built over a hundred chimneys in my career, almost all on the outside, and never once had a problem with them drawing properly.
Some of the early chimneys were made out of sticks and mud and would lean away from the house so it could be pulled down easily in case of fire.
In Central Europe most farmers build Summer kitchen, tiny house with oven for preparing food during the summer and chimney in the middle of the house.
Thanks for a great comment Justas!
The chimney looks great Noah ...... and for all the right reasons ......... you do a great job & are very inspirational . Will send you pictures of our first attempt before too long .
I look forward to it!
The chimney and the building were erected at different times. As far as design goes, it was easily added to the side of an existing building. I have doubts to whether beauty or space-saving had much to do with it.
I live in Minnesota. We have a tax season, and 10,000 lakes.
The Brits built a huge chimney block of red brick in the middle of the house, kitchen dining and food prep on one side and sleeping room(s) on the other. The huge mass of warm brick kept the house warm all night. Log cabins are small and cold. There was no room for a decent chimney block with fireplaces on both sides.
US houses are not built by Professionals. Russian have inside Chimney since 15th Century.
Thx I was wondering this!!!!!
Put the chimney in the middle of the home and make it out of rock and brick so that it CAN'T burn down. DUH!
What it all, actually, boils down to is that the log cabins were built, before the chimneys, for shelter. It wasn't uncommon for them to have a fire pit in the center of the house, for a while. Also, the cabins were so small, with very limited room and a massive fireplace, inside, would have been impractical. If you look at the colonial farmhouses, you will notice that they had multiple chimneys, throughout the house.
Sorry I missed the 4 names you used to say at the end of the video. ;-) But thanks for the video's I'm so interested that I almost can't wait for the instructional videos for construction. It is good to learn patients
I've been working on some ideas lately on how to demonstrate more, while I'm still in this preparatory phase of my next home... look for that in future episodes. Thank you for your patience!
The chemneybuilt like this means also that it is a waist of heat....
looking at the chimney behind you I see vegetation growing out of it. Does that affect the stability of the rock on the chimney?
am reading now "Little house in the prairie" and I had not could get why Pa had done chimney outside. now I have figured out. But I want to know why he used saplings from the wood, which he plastered them with mud, and he build wals on the top of chimney . I have a doubt about protection of fire wood with mud. When I was a child I did wood coal from wood stick and mud in the fire. I think it would be destroy after short time, is not it?
Could you make a video on how to build the chimney? Or is it in your masonry video?
Up in the Adirondacks, it’s not uncommon to put a fire in most summer nights to keep the chill off.
It has been my experience that a cold chimney will cause creosote to build up as opposed to a warm chimney which does not
Mine are on the inside.
Handmade House...; I subscribed to your channel here. I am a retired code certified home inspector and long time home renovator... I can always learn something new :-)
Thanks for subbing!
How are ppl so stupid. It's hot, full of fire and embers, and they leak smoke. And you need to be able get at it for repairs.
Chimneys have been built on the inside of homes for at least the last 2000 years, not sure where this guy is getting his info
The Romans invented concrete in 300 BC, so in areas where concrete or other suitable resources were widely available inside chimneys were likely more popular (especially in super cold countries). Colonial America was different as people had to make homes using only the local resources and often even nails were difficult to acquire.
@Oftin Wong Is that a joke? Colonial settlers often came directly from Europe so yeah, they knew what was going on outside the US.
@Oftin Wong I live in America
@Oftin Wong is your wanna be wisdom coming from the fact that you think your Billy Jack? You got shit twisted dude
@Oftin Wong the first thing you got twisted was your comment that every thing we knew (you spelled knew new) about Europe we lost in one generation. We settled this country in 1620 and was under European rule for 150 years before we declared our Independence so we hardly forgot shit about Europe. America has been the leader in almost every thing for the last 200 years. Europe and the rest of the world owes it's freedom that it has today to America. If not for America Europe would be under Nazi Germany rule so we got that going for us. America pays more aid to other countries than any other country. We fight every other countries fight for them because they either can't or wont. I could go on for hours but I don't have time to school you in history.
Hi noah. We ve decided to have a wood burner on inside but love that chimney. Our solution, build the chimney but have the fireplace on the outside so we can enjoy those crisp autumn evenings. The question is, how thick might the inner stone layer have to be to not char the logs on the inside? If that makes sense. Maybe you have some experience with this or could help us find a safe solution. Thanks.
I'm not exactly certain if I understand the question James... but I can say that building codes and building inspectors will prevent anything from being built that will prevent charring. And if you are in one of those areas that doesn't require permits and inspections... congratulations!... but... with regard to building fireplaces and chimneys it's a good idea to comply with these standards anyway for safety sake.
Did houses in a mountainous setting like this have any grass in the yard? I ask that question as someone who grew up with a milk cow roaming in the yard.
Grass doesn't like to grow in heavily wooded areas.
Thanks for sharing! Love the idea of a cow roaming the yard. I was fortunate to experience cows growing up... but they would be quickly in trouble if spotted in the yard.
Cows need a lot of grass. Unless you had a huge farm with an enormous lawn, I'll bet that milk cow mostly ate hay, not grass, and you didn't play much in the cows' yard. Goats would do better within a predator free mountains wooded area than cows, and produce more milk and meat per pound of forage than cows.
A chimney can be appreciated on the inside of a home where it can give of heat after the fire is out and it will last much longer since it is not exposed to freeze/thaw cycles. Mainly we have double insulated chimney pipe now because labor costs for stone and brick work are too high. My masonry chimney is in the middle of my house and I will be building a rocket/batch mass heater for maximum efficiency.
Better question: Why do so many houses built before 1950 on back have the 2 little windows on either side of the chimney, like yours (and mine)? Thanks!!!
The main reason was why put a hole in your roof ? Wooden shingles..Tar patch wasn't available in the 1800's... We forget that there's no plastic , no synthetics , no polyester in the early days... Even today, special precautions are made if you put a chimney through your roof for it not to leak.
I wonder how much awareness there was of what we now know to be carbon monoxide. Folks certainly worried about "bad air". It would not have taken very many stories of the children in the attic being sickened (or worse) while sleeping next to a leaky interior chimney to foster a bias against interior chimneys. Are dry-laid chimneys found primarily in warmer regions? It seems to me that only a well-sealed chimney would be safe in colder areas, where any windows would need to be closed at night.
I want to build a chimney like that and I have a question: which side of a house?
The prevalent wind direction is from the west followed by from northwest and from the north.
South wall seems to have the most advantages because the smoke and sparks will not be pushed on the roof and the walls of chimney will be warmed up by the sun diminishing backdraft.
full of idiotism to build it outside...firstly they pollute as the fireplace is colder and give less heat. If one cant build a safe fireplace inside do not build one at all. And chimney fires is result of not knowing how to use one. Yes I´m Finnish and had 5 fireplaces in my home as a kid.
Its a beautiful little cabin with a beautiful view of the chimney. It makes ot look so homey and cozy. Id love to know how you bult your cabin if you ever feel like Doing another video
I do love find treasures like this channel. Very interesting and informative with lovely presentation.
In New France and until the beginning of the 20th century chimneys were built on the inside of the house. Either right in the middle, or adorning an exterior walls. Sometimes there would be one chimney on each exterior wall if the house was large enough.
Thanks for sharing Martin!
Why Did`nt You Go In Side The House ? would Like to See It inside & Round IT
I will have a Rocket Mass fire place mine the inside. Just not be stupid enough to start a fire. Then just build a pizza oven and Rocket Mass Stove on the outside.
Looks awsome
Chimneys were made from wattle and daub mud lined in the old days……..goes up quick and can build with stone when time and labor permits……in the the warm climates the had kitchens detached from the house……so as not to heat the house…….
There are other obvious reasons. First it saves space inside the house since a chimney is quite voluminous. Second, it is harder to waterproof the contour of the chimney on the roof!
Hello Bradley how are you I realy like your Chanel on you tube want talk to you about home making. Please please reply to me. I am from Pakistan
Chimneys use up a massive amount of space inside a small cabin. Putting the chimney outside means you maintain your useable floor. area.
Same in Germany: chimney on the inside.
In the south chimneys were built with sticks and mud, some time mud falls off and sticks start burning and then house.
Very nice dry stack stone placement, master Mason
5:03 Howard Roark just rolled over about 500 times in his fictional grave.
Our chimney, in my 1920 house, is in the center of our home.
I live in rural Mississippi and I own Seven Acres that has Loblolly yellowpine matured between 16 and 20 in in diameter. I have probably about 2,000 of these trees to choose from. I don't have any heavy machinery and everything I would do I would have to do by hand and by wench. I only have one person to help me in that's my wife. We have no family and no friends here. I am intimidated. However I am strong I'm a hard worker and I am a brick and block Mason. I'm having a hard time pulling the trigger. Do you believe Loblolly yellow pine is sufficient for building a log home? I enjoy your videos and I will continue to watch them. My intimidation is still getting the best of me
Before even watching the video I think I can guess. The cabin is too small to put it inside.
Not sure if you know it but your website isn't working. When you click on any category, no page shows up.
Wealthier folks have an outdoor kitchen so not too heat up the house in the warmer weather.
Noah - great info - you're doing an awesome job with this video series.
Hey, thank you Maury! I appreciate that!
Please can you create a profile in Linkedin? I think that is better than facebook for share your wonderful work , Thanks.
A few years ago I set up one there... but it never went anywhere and I felt a bit like a round peg in a world of square holes... perhaps I should look into that more (when I find the time).
Linkedin would be well worth your while, Noah. Hope to see you there!
Huh. My first guess was gonna be cold air draw from outside.
For a very long time there has also been many chimneys built on the inside of the house.
Masonry heaters are the best , fire places are not energy efficient and a waste of money
A downdraft woodfire could draw air from outdoors to feed the fire. The smoke would be pulled down to a smoke channel (K'ang) underneath the ground to a smoke shed, where meats could be smoke preserved. Then again, the hot smoke could be channeled underneath a Scandinavian hottub😃
Early American colonial homes prior to the American Revolution in the Northeast had Center chimneys to utilize the heat as much as possible. During the federal period many homes started putting the chimneys on the outside primarily for fire protection. It was about survival in the early days.
Good video, makes sense that if you had a chimney fire to pull the chimney over. Much easer to rebuild the chimney in January than rebuild your house. I think Happy is talking about Russian Stoves . there are some cool you tube about them.
What is a good exterior base dimension for a chimney. I think I read or heard you say 6ft wide at the base, is that correct? And how do you determine the fireplace width inside? thanks, Laura
Laura, it seems almost all chimneys in my area are 6ft by 3ft. A nice touch on a lot of vintage chimneys is a flared bottom where the chimney will come out of the ground 7ft by 3and a half feet and then at about a foot high will quickly taper in. I make the fireplace as wide as I can within the confines of the chimney that is built.
Thank you for the info. I believe I read that about the fireplaces/chimneys on your handmade houses website but wanted to confirm. I have been taken notes and trying to get as much info. as possible before we start building. I don't like to rush into anything and especially be uninformed. You continue to be a big help, thanks again!!!
I'm here to help! Don't ever hesitate to ask a question!
LOVE the taper starting at the ground!