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I have two fireplaces on different floors that share a chimney. I do not know whether they share a flue. This season, we burned some wood logs in the upstairs fireplace which were sold to us by a local man. These seem to burn a bit smoky. Last season, we only used store-purchased wood and fire logs (sawdust-based?) that did not have as strong a smell. The chimney downstairs has not been used in several years.

Interestingly, the stairwell between floors smells faintly like smoke on some mornings. It is unclear to me whether this is a thing to be concerned about. We stopped using the upstairs fireplace out of caution, but there's a possibility that the smoke is unrelated. The downstairs fireplace does not have a strong smell. I presume it would if there was smoke getting into its flue.

After we stopped using the fireplace, there was a period of two days that I did not smell smoke in the stairwell, followed by one where I did. It has been 3-4 more days and no new smell.

The neighbor has recently been using a new outdoor fire pit, and maybe his smoke is getting in, but he's still burning and I have no more smoke accumulation.

Should I be concerned? What should I look for? What work should I or a professional perform?

Michael
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    Would have chimney inspected and cleaned. Smoke smell can last with different weather making it more noticeable. Could be neighbours if the wind is blowing your way, but it should not last. Use good well season(dry) wood. CO gas does not have a smell, but is in smoke, so CO detectors should be in the house. – crip659 Dec 06 '21 at 19:59
  • @crip659 Interesting, thank you. In addition to some smoke detectors, I have a dedicated CO monitor that I leave by the gas heating (also in the basement, but other side of the house). I could move it to the downstairs fireplace and run another fire upstairs to see if it screams. – Michael Dec 06 '21 at 20:15
  • The guy claimed the wood was a year old and the outside feels dry, but I recall hearing sounds during burning that make me think there's still some liquid in there. – Michael Dec 06 '21 at 20:15

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Does it only happen when you run the dryer...bathroom fan...kitchen fan?

If so, the fan is pushing air out of the house and it may be sucking air in from the chimney.

Make sure the flue damper works and is closed.

Steve Wellens
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  • I use the downstairs bathroom exhaust fan pretty sporadically. It might be correlated. We do have a closed flue damper. I don't know how airtight they're supposed to be, but I can definitely tell the difference in sound levels between open and closed. – Michael Dec 07 '21 at 19:07
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    You could test the flue damper with a stick of lit incense in front of the fireplace while you turn on the fan. – Steve Wellens Dec 08 '21 at 05:39