Silly Fireplace Question
#6
My fireplace has an ash trap in the back that leads down to a catch in the basement wall below.
Do people still use these?  Will I end up with clouds of ash (or thin layers of ash) all over my basement?
Or should I just sweep the old ashes out and into my garbage can?

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#7
I have had a couple of homes with those. Never had a problem with ash in the basement. Cleanout doors were secure. They were also big eneough that it would have probably taken 100 years of constant fires to fill them up.
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#8
I haven’t burned a fire in a couple of years, but yes, I just shovel the stuff into the trap door and let it fall to the basement cavity.  I covered it with a wooden wall in the basement, but left an access panel should I ever choose to take a peek in there.  But that would require that I move my lathe, which I’m not real inclined to do just now.  
Laugh
Tom

“This place smells like that odd combination of flop sweat, hopelessness, aaaand feet"
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#9
(01-01-2022, 12:32 PM)David Stone Wrote: My fireplace has an ash trap in the back that leads down to a catch in the basement wall below.
Do people still use these?  Will I end up with clouds of ash (or thin layers of ash) all over my basement?
Or should I just sweep the old ashes out and into my garbage can?

We had one of those in the house we moved into after Dad retired from the military.  House was built in 1967, and the brick work, including the fireplace and chimney was traditional brick laid by a mason.  Fireplace had an ash trap, and that's what we used to dispose of ash for years.  Never cleaned out the trap from the access panel in the basement.  House inspector didn't say anything about it when we sold the place in 2011.
Ray
(formerly "WxMan")
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#10
I have cleaned mine several times, and I don't even have a fireplace (built in late 1880's so probably served the coal furnace)...found bird and squirrel remails, until I put a screen/cap on it...and that's a whole nother story...
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