Has anyone seen this before?

[Bain]

You know how sometimes you see something and it looks so whacked, you begin to wonder if maybe there's some sort of construction technique you're unaware of? It happened to me today.

The drystacked bricks are beneath a masonry fireplace and chimney. The whole structure was located behind an exterior wall, so all I could see was the fireplace and the upper portion of the chimney. The chimney was canted away from the house about ten degrees, and there were some small gaps between the fireplace and the interior walls. But . . . nothing tremendously scary. I couldn't see the firebox because the sellers had a ventless gas-log kit in the thing.

Is there any kind of masonry method that would cause the lower portion of the fireplace and chimney to look like this in a crawlspace?

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[Jim Katen]

You know how sometimes you see something and it looks so whacked, you begin to wonder if maybe there's some sort of construction technique you're unaware of? It happened to me today.

The drystacked bricks are beneath a masonry fireplace and chimney. The whole structure was located behind an exterior wall, so all I could see was the fireplace and the upper portion of the chimney. The chimney was canted away from the house about ten degrees, and there were some small gaps between the fireplace and the interior walls. But . . . nothing tremendously scary. I couldn't see the firebox because the sellers had a ventless gas-log kit in the thing.

Is there any kind of masonry method that would cause the lower portion of the fireplace and chimney to look like this in a crawlspace?

No. It's completely retarded.

BTW, 10 degrees of lean is huge. The leaning tower of Pisa only leans 5 degrees and they thing it will topple when it reaches 7 degrees.

- Jim Katen, Oregon

[Bill Kibbel]

Jim's not using the correct (technically or politically) term. It's completely f**'d would be less offensive.

The block work joints, the dry-laid, individual stacks of brick and slanted chimney would have me stating there cant be much right with any portion of the fireplace and chimney.

[Tom Raymond]

Looks alot like the HGTV Effect to me. Unless one is a mason a fireplace is definately a "don't do it yourself" project.

Tom

[Kyle Kubs]

I concur. F****d. (but I used the appropriate amount of little * thingies)[:-bigmout

Any pictures from the interior/exterior?

I'm afraid for that beam...

[Big10bill]

Looks like they stacked brick in there to support a hearth. 10 degree lean? Held back by diagonal braces, cables or sky hooks?