PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum - View Single Post - Barn Fire

BrierS · #8 12-21-2004, 10:22 AM

Thanks all for the suggestions, thoughts, words of encouragment. Working from memory to answer some of the questions above . . . four of us had been working in the barn moving items between floor levels in order to make room for more vehicles. I had accumulated scrap wood from the year-long house make-over so I started feeding some of the real scrap pieces into my Woodchuck wood furnace. The Woodchuck has kept the lower level above freezing so far this year. That is my eventual workshop area. Though I tried to take every precaution when doing the renovation work I may have miscalculated on the exterior portion of the furnace installation. I have an exterior, lined, brick chimney. To maintain proper installation distances from walls and ceilings, etc. we ran a pipe through the wall, secured it with stand-offs, screwed each joint and made certain every fit was correct/tight. Where the pipe was going through the exterior wall we constructed it using a tile chimney liner with a stainless steel sleeve inside and brick/morter around it to form a 12" barrier between the tile and all wood. The actual pipe went inside of the stainless steel sleeve. Apparently, the aluminum flashing I used (thought it would shed heat faster than other materials) on the exterior to keep rain/snow from getting inside the wall transfered or trapped enough heat to start the 150 year old barn boards on fire. The fire chief complemented the safeguards saying it was better than most he sees in houses. That didn't change the end result. On a side note and to show how anal I can get over the precautions, I used Type MC electrical cable through out and had all of it on GFI breakers or outlets. That worked perfectly; tripping the power as soon as it burned through.

The MB has leather so it does not smell of burning MB-Tex however one can be as bad as the other. Only smoke damage to the MB. No other damage. That includes heat, water, etc. The barn did not sustain much damage though it is not useable yet. One of my neighbors was driving by and noticed the flames going up the exterior. Could have been much worse. I have thousands of dollars worth of antiques, tools, equipment, and misc. stored items. Only those that absorb the smell of smoke should be impacted. Adjuster will be here at ten this morning.

Brian, as you know, in comparison to the loss of Brier, this won't even make me flinch. Now instead of getting back into the workforce I'll work to repair the barn. Thanks. Storage for parts cars will still be shortly on the horizon.