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I live in a semi-detached house and last year had a wood burning stove fitted by a reputable company. All has been well with it until our neighbours recently lit their first fire of the year in their open fire.
Our lounge quickly filled with smoke seeping through the fireplace wall & the base of the flue surround.
After discussing it with the company who fitted ours they said the cause would be their open flue leaking into ours through the shared chimney separation wall where the mortar has broken down over time & this will need relining with a stainless steel flue or another coating putting the onus & the considerable costs on the neighbour.
Now, we obviously want to sort this out amicably & avoid falling out with them if possible. They say they had their fire before ours was installed, without any issues and feel that the fitting must have done something to cause it whereas we feel that the fitting has just highlighted an existing issue that wasn't apparent as we never used our chimney beforehand (electric fire and open chimney top).
What do the STW collective feel about this?
So it's a shared chimney stack -i.e. the same physical space after a few feet all the way to the chimney pot? When they installed your stove did they line the chimney down to your stove? Is there a possibility if both of these are the case that they have effectively blocked or severely restricted the chimney capacity for your neighbour?
Was your fireplace blocked before? Opening it up may have allowed low pressure to form in your lounge pulling their fumes through the party wall.
Their flue leaks and probably has done for some time which has now shown itself as your flue has been sealed by the addition od a liner. So, in one sense, they are correct, that you have had your flue lined, has caused theirs to show as leaky. Bottom line is that their flue leaks and they need to rectify before they kill you and them with CO poisoning.
On the limited information given I'm with Convert on this. I'd be getting insurance involved, they're much better placed to sort this kind of stuff out. At a guess I'd say the company that installed your stove are at fault for blocking the shared chimney with your liner.
Also, as per slackalice, you need to get this sorted ASAP because in its current state the chimney and their fire will kill you.
It seems very difficult for you to stop fumes coming in if their chimney is leaking. Even if it hadn't caused a problem before, it is still their smoke escaping from their property and they still have a responsibility to stop it. Like our stone garden wall is also a field boundary, it's broken down a bit but if the sheep start to climb over it's the farmer's job to restrain his stock.
I'd have thought if the neighbours' chimney had been blocked they would have known about it PDQ!
It's pointless either party getting on their high horse about this. There is a shared chimney stack that leaks. Shouting off about "I know my rights" isn't going to get anywhere. No-one will ever be able to accurately pinpoint when or where the damage was caused. It exists, so assuming OP and his neighbour are grown ups they have to deal with it in a grown up way.
It's a joint problem so get it sorted together. Start banging the drum about who exactly is responsible will get nothing repaired and just cause ill feeling, possibly lasting for years.
Your liner installer may have dislodged some bricks or fitting the liner may have revealed an existing problem, without a before and after CCTV survey it will be impossible to tell 🤔 either way as sarawak says it's a shared problem that has become apparent due to one of the flueways being lined.
Sarawak is completely right, but it sounds like the OP has started the whole thing off badly, hopefully he can recover the situation.
I’d say get a 3rd party installation expert in to assess the situation while both of you are present, they can give an honest appraisal of the situation and what needs to happen to sort it out. They might be able to indicate who should pay but if it isn’t clear then accepting to both pay 50% would be the best way forward - you’ve both got a fire you want to use so would be equally in need of sorting it out.
Some people can’t accept that things break down/wear out/fall out on their own though. Hopefully you can sort it.
Personally I'd be pretty hacked off that I had something that worked until you had work done and then had you round knocking on my door, my response would be swayed depending on your attitude
But as above it needs sorting asap
Cheers for the replies.
Just to be clear, our neighbours haven't had & have no intention of starting another fire until the issue is resolved.
We are still on amicable terms & I want that to continue.
As I understand it, we have separate flues up to the shared chimney stack with separate outlets and yes ours has a liner all the way down to the burner.
They are going to get an independent inspection to help clarify the issue & we have offered to pay for that.
The brickwork between the chimneys has broken down on both sides causing a leak (which would go both ways) - this is undeniable. I agree that it's the responsibility of both owners to repair/stop the leak.
As the OP had a liner installed he now has a sealed system and the smoke cannot go through the flue wall into the neighbours house - if he didn't have a liner then possibly the fumes would be going the other way.
As he has had a liner installed he has completed his half of the works.
The neighbour now has to complete their side of the works which would involve lining the flue either with a steel or a poured concrete liner.
I'm struggling to see how pulling a liner down the flue is going to cause much, in any, damage but I'm open to suggestions. If it dislodged a brick then the brickwork was ****ed beforehand. This is especially true if the smoke is coming through the wall at a low level where the OPs liner installation would not have reached.
I'd inform your insurance company who will deal with the neighbour [who needs to take action].
The onus is on the neighbour if they wish to have an open fire, they almost certainly haven't got the required ventilation fitted, making this problem much worse.
They would have to be pretty dumb and selfish to continue putting you and your family at risk.
Globalti makes a good point too. Having the woodburner and sealed flue installed may well have altered the pressure in the OP's room and the draw of his original chimney which has now shown up aging and dilapidation in the original chimney separation wall. If there is no draw from the OP's room into the original chimney then you would quite possibly get a reverse draw through gaps in mortar/brickwork under certain conditions.
As others have said, the simplest solution seems to be for a flue liner to neighbours' fire too.
I would respectfully suggest that involving insurance companies at this stage is avoided. They are not known for real world solutions and are only interested in protecting themselves - whatever their adverts say. They are quite likely to demand that the whole chimney stack be taken down and rebuilt with all the upheaval, discomfort and redecorating that will cause....on both properties.
Far better to get the problem looked at by a local "expert" who both parties can talk to in a relaxed manner. A solution can be suggested and agreed between the two parties amicably.
It is quite conceivable that the increase in premiums will be more than the works can be sourced for locally.
Only involve Insurance Companies if the two parties cannot agree. Don't go looking for complications.
Insurance company if the neighbour doesn't play ball (sounds like he is but this wasn't clear in the OP).
I doubt they'd want the flues rebuilding (due to cost) and would just go with a liner. They may not even be interested as it might be seen as just wear and tear.
Even if they are not interested if will go down as a claim on OP's record. They will record it as a claim for nil value. But, it will still count as a claim and premiums could suffer.
They won't even tell you they are not interested until they have sent someone round and they will only do that once a claim has been raised.
Then they will say they don't want to be involved but the claim is already registered and will remain so.
Twisted logic? Many might think so. We've been through that process and suffered a 75% increase in premiums even though they did zilch. We changed companies!
for what this comment is worth...
my father in law is a chimney sweep and as such i wouldn't think about paying someone to do an installation on my house just do it myself and i have done many, however father in law does not have a hetas installation ticket so a few years ago when we needed a stove and flue installing in a rental house i had to hire a 'reputable' local company.
lets just say upon checking their work out i was on the phone to trading standards within an hour and the next call was to discuss legal action against the installers.
so basically your installers may we be all ticketed up and reptable but it still does not guarantee that they have not bodged and mucked up the job.
i would recomend you call HETAS in the morning to discuss.
Are you 100% sure its leaking through and not drawing down your flue in through your stove? We have an open fire place in the kitchen and stove in the front room. The draw on the open fireplace is very strong and can cause a down draught in the front room. Having a higher pot on one of the flews can eliviate this. Do you and your neighbour have trickle vents and enough airflow also. Double glazing and new airtight houses don't lend themselves to open fires.
When you had the new stove put in did the installer cut away lots of masonry to enable the stove to fit into a recess? It is possible that they have cut too much away and too close to the back of next doors fireplace.