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apparently that type of activity is frowned on around here.. :dunno:

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we dont have much to burn, but we like to do some fall and early spring backyard fires.

Everyone here planted aspen trees, which resprout new trees, but they also die alot so we have a never ending supply of cheap wood..

got wood?

 
We need wood, everything we have been burning lately is leaves and brush type stuff.  When we cleared out the tree line this summer we fell a couple of dead trees but as that picture shows we burned all of it ASAP the termite damage was too much to let sit around.  

 
Is the Solostove similar to a Breeo in that it is supposed to be smokeless or smoke reduced? Are you aiming for low smoke? 

Back when I used to read Nextdoor there was lots of complaints about smoke from backyard fires. There probably still is, but I smartened up and stopped reading about it. 

 
Technically, we’re allowed to burn in the back yard, but the township makes it such a PITA that it might as well be banned. We’re supposed to get a permit from the fire department but to get it you have to show that you’re a couple hundred feet from any property line and/or structure and also have a water source at hand. There are only a couple properties that can even meet the requirements.

You can have a fire pit or burn barrel but that kind of limits how much crap you can get rid of. Fortunately, we’re pretty isolated on the cul de sac so we’ll burn a pile every once in a while and haven’t had any issues. With half our property being woods, we’re never short of brush/branches/logs to burn.

 
Sounds like you just need to build a hopper that feeds a leaf-blower-powered burn barrel then.  

 
We'll just keep doing our burn pile every once in a while and then play dumb if the fire department ever does get called on us.  We do run a hose down to the pile and we try to light it up on days after we've had some fairly recent rain.

 
I've got a hankering to remodel my home office, which is in the basement; We have a fireplace in the living room and the kitchen, and the chimney appears to extend through the basement. Whoever originally finished the basement covered up the chimney portion (in my office) with particle board, then put drywall on it.

What's confusing me is a section on my ceiling that is lower than the rest, which appears to have the same thing going on. I can't tell, might this be a structural thing for the chimney, or is this covering up something else that isn't related?

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It looks like a soffit for something. I'm not sure what, maybe some MEP ducts or something? But this is single home construction. They probably just covered whatever the heck they wanted. I'd be surprised if it was related to the chimney, though to honest, I can't tell where the second photo was taken in relation to the first. I also don't have your house's floorplans (which I'm not sure you have, either). The surest way to know what it's covering is to uncover whatever's underneath! But I'm sure you're already thinking that!

 
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Weird soffits have a tendency to cover HVAC or plumbing that was added later, or was too hard to move when finishing a previously unfinished space. 

 
It looks like a soffit for something. I'm not sure what, maybe some MEP ducts or something? But this is single home construction. They probably just whatever the heck they wanted. I'd be surprised if it was related to the chimney, though to honest, I can't tell where the second photo was taken in relation to the first. I also don't have your house's floorplans (which I'm not sure you have, either). The surest way to know what it's covering is to uncover whatever's underneath! But I'm sure you're already thinking that!


Weird soffits have a tendency to cover HVAC or plumbing that was added later, or was too hard to move when finishing a previously unfinished space. 
Yeah, now that I look at it more closely, it looks like it is HVAC related. The weirdness seems to come from the fact that they had to go around the chimney structure. I guess it has to stay...which is going to make it interesting to move the door to the room.

 
yeah I agree if that is in the basement my guess is thats your HVAC ducts.

You can move anything with time & money! ;)

 
Probably HVAC. We’ve got one in our finished basement but ours goes the whole length of the basement. If yours did that, I’d say it’s HVAC and a support beam like ours is.

 
Wouldn’t hvac ducting like that have some grates into the room?

 
anyone have one of these?

Couple of the neighbors have the medium sized one.  One guy has the Yukon. The large Yukon will fit normal cut firewood but it chews through wood super fast.  The upside is you don’t get a bunch of smoke in the face.  Downside is they aren’t cheap. 

 
Wouldn’t hvac ducting like that have some grates into the room?
Not necessarily.  They are trunk lines running to different parts of the house.  I built two such soffits when I finished my basement, and I only have a vent in one of them.

 
My wife and I built out our unfinished basement for our kids (1.5, 4, 7) to play during COVID winter. We built a climbing, wall, a couple swings, a ball pit, etc. To avoid injuries we need to install some type of floor. We currently have a few carpets but they don't provide any impact protection and there is lots of bare concrete floor. I'm looking at 600-800 SF to cover, the walls are the standard plastic backed insulation nailed/taped to the walls. 

We have a repurpose/recycle yard here in Denver that has astro turf from football fields, my wife vehemently opposed that idea. I have 3/4" rubber floor on the other side of the basement where my home gym is set up, but that stuff isn't much softer than concrete and stinks of rubber for weeks after install. 

I found carpet squares on Craigslist (office type carpet), I am considering those on top of a thick carpet pad. I could also get normal carpet wholesale, but I am concerned about it staying flat if we are not going to tie it to the floor like it should be.  

Anyone have experience/ideas on a cheap solution? It doesn't have to be perfect, just functional. 

 
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