The story begins with a newly restored fireplace in a Victorian Parlour that we had just finished restoring.  Shortly after lighting up the fireplace for the first time the room began to smell of exhaust fumes.  After shutting off the fireplace, we discovered that the chimney was not drafting at all. 
 
 
 
 

Okay, lets go to the diagram. When the house was built, the architects wanted the chimneys to both be turned sideways to keep the symmetry of the house going.  Symmetry is a key element in Eastlake architecture. But the fireplaces in the bedroom and the parlor face the front of the house.  So, they twisted the chimney between the second and third floors.  This being said, that is why I could not see any obstructions when we looked up the chimney from the parlor.  We could only see to the point of the twist.
 
 
 
 

With no way to see an obstruction by looking up, we moved the strategy to looking down.  The only way to do that is with a video camera and a light.  We sent the camera down until it could go no further and marked the depth from the chimney opening. We played the video back and this is what we found. This picture is of the obstruction around twenty feet or so down. 

 
Click on the icon above to watch the video.  We sped it up to cut through the suspense.  The camera makes a perfect landing in a bird corpse - not for all viewers.
 
 
 
 

To locate the obstruction, we added up the following :

  1. We went in the house and measured the thickness of the roof joists and the height of the chimney inside the attic from floor to ceiling.

  2. Measured the floor joists above the third floor bedroom.

  3. Added all the above measurements together and determined that the obstruction was 2 1/2 feet from the ceiling on the third floor bedroom wall.

  4. We drew an "X" to mark the spot and started chiseling.
 
 
 
 

And sure enough, we reached inside and there was the dead bird.  But, more importantly - the plug that was below it.  The chimneys had been replaced from the roofline up a few years earlier.  When the masons were laying the brick, wet mortar fell down the chimney.  Due to the twist it built up and formed a hard cement plug.
 
 
 
 
We carefully chiseled the cement plug until the opening was cleared.  A rush of air blew up as soon as we cleared the debris.  It was like the chimney had been holding it's breath.
 
 
 
 
The opening in the chimney wall was sealed back up and the wall smoothed over, like it never happened.
 
 
 
 
And the fireplace lived happily ever after