Garage fire. Could have been real bad.

[millstreaminn]

Woke up the other morning to a different smell in the house. Went to let the dogs out and noticed the paint on the attached garage ceiling was blistered around the wood stove vent. Grabbed a hoe and started pulling down Sheetrock. I have blown in cellulose insulation, which will not burn but will smolder. Like I said, could have been a lot worse. 4 burnt off trusses and all the wires that run my heating systems. I got all the wires patched together, gonna re-engineer the smoke stack.

 

[TennesseeTuxedo]

Close call. Glad it wasn't worse for you and your family.

 

[Jogeephus]

Hats off to you for keeping your head and dealing with it with some common sense. Last month our local state forestry commission unit had a block heater on one of their trucks catch the front of a truck on fire under their shed. In spite of having four firefighters on duty, 20 fire extinguishers, a brand new $70,000 water truck with foam, a 2" water main within 10 foot of the truck they panicked and called the volunteer fire department to come put it out. I'm sure had they been in the same predicament as you your home would have been burnt to the ground. So good job! Looks like you were able to keep things from getting really bad.

 

[CottageFarm]

Sorry to hear the bad part but it does look like it could have been a lot worse. Like Jo said, you did good and avoided a really bad outcome.


It looks like the fire burned hotter where the wiring is than where the stack is. While that's not proof that it was electrical, it does indicate it was a possibility. Make sure the cable used is appropriate to the task, appropriate gauge to amperage, etc.
I don't know what the heat source for the stack is, but it does look small diameter for direct contact with combustibles.

 

[presmudjo]

Did you thank the dogs? They could have been what woke you to begin with. Glad it was caught so early.

 

[greybeard]

The messy floor picture is "missing", but from his explanation, it sounds like maybe the heat of the pipe caused the cellulose insulation to begin smoldering and the "smolder" spread over to where the wires and other joists are.

 

[branguscowgirl]

Wow, great job! Glad it was not worse. Fire scares the daylights out of me!

 

[Caustic Burno]

You are one lucky boy.
Mine burned June 13,1981 we got the with what we had on.
That was was fine and dandy it was just a house. Hated losing a lot of
the pictures.
Moral of the story this is when I learned replacement cost Insurance was worth
every penny.

 

[Workinonit Farm]

Yikes! I'm glad it only involved that small area. It could have been terrible.
Glad you're okay.

Katherine

 

[slick4591]

What they said. Glad you are okay.

 

[hillsdown]

Close call . Fires scare the heck out of me ,especially living out in the country .

 

[millstreaminn]

Thanks for the concern. Thinking of what could have happened sends chills down my spine. The loss of material possessions is insignificant, it's what can't be replaced with money that really matters. I said an extra prayer of thanks last night...

 

[greybeard]

Maybe put some smoke detectors up in the rafters when you redo your pipe too.

 

[boondocks]

Wow, glad you have a good sniffer. FWIW, we recently put in a woodstove and (with fairly stringent fire codes in NY) put in a Selkirk double-walled pipe system. The whole rig set me back but today I'm thinking maybe it wasn't a bad idea. If you're re-engineering, maybe check out their website....

 

[millstreaminn]

Wow, glad you have a good sniffer. FWIW, we recently put in a woodstove and (with fairly stringent fire codes in NY) put in a Selkirk double-walled pipe system. The whole rig set me back but today I'm thinking maybe it wasn't a bad idea. If you're re-engineering, maybe check out their website....

Boondocks - I looked up the site you suggested. My pipe was made by Metalbestos. Your website says "Selkirk, formerly known as Metalbestos". Looks like they are the same company. The pipe on Selkirks website for wood stoves says rated to 2100 degrees, the same as the stuff I have. I gonna build an 18" chimney around the pipe I have now. Kinda like the Metalbestos pipe, then a 4" air space, then 2 layers of 5/8 fire rated Sheetrock all the way around the pipe. I can't imagine what else I can do to make it safer.

 

[Nesikep]

The only way I can clean out the chimney I have is by setting fire to it, and I don't trust any stainless piping to not rot out on the inside after years of that kind of abuse... The shop has a 10" stack, and when I run across a piece of 9" or so heavy wall pipe I'm going to run that inside the stainless, so all it does is insulate. The brick chimney in the house is full of cracks and we will be redoing that this year.

That was a close call! Glad it wasn't worse..

I was wondering if you couldn't loop the same plastic air line you have for the shop air around the chimney, and connect it to a water source.. if things would get too hot it would melt and spray water.. Might have a flood, but it's better than nothing... Then there's always the automatic sprinklers if you want to get fancy.. Frost is a problem with them though... I think the plastic air line (at least 1/4" size) would handle getting frosted.

Looks like you'll be good again with a bunch of 2x4's and some new sheetrock anyhow

 

[skyhightree1]

that could have been really bad glad it wasn't worse.

 

[Dave]

I am glad everything worked as well for you as it did. On a dark rainy night of January 10, 1984 after being gone all day I came home to a house that was no longer there. 30 years later I still think of things that I lost in that fire. But I am glad that my day had started early because my bedroom was completely gone.