What is this and how do I fix it?

Jim Franklin

A few months ago I posted about a loud rumbling when the oil boiler was running and that I narrowed it down to a cracked plaster patch in the wall surrounding the chimney. Today I tore the Homasote(!) off it and found this access hole with corroded plug hanging out of it. I'm assuming it was for some kind of heater? The house is in MA and was built in 1926. The hole is in the small room on the very left of the house, and the stairs leading to the 2nd floor are also in this room. The house has steam heat and I'm guessing originally coal fired given what looks like a walled-up delivery chute. There is no heat on the second floor, just a grille in the floor at the top of the stairs in the center of the house.

I'd like to keep the recess open and just plug the hole, even though the original stained wood will constantly remind me that this house was once full of beautiful stained wood and some <insert derrogatory term here> did a fast crappy white paint job on all of it. Is that possible?

thanks,
jim

Steamhead (in transit)

Jim, that hole

was the chimney connection for an old coal or wood stove. Now you know what they heated the house with before the steam was installed. That also explains the grille between the first and second floors. I bet there are some other such chimney connections elsewhere in the house.

It's probably best to brick the hole up. This type of permanent closure will keep flue gases out of the house.

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