Our home has a brick chimney with two flues for two wood burning fireplaces that are no longer used. I keep the lower dampers shut but was thinking of covering the top outlets to prevent cold air/pests from entering the chimney. Eventually, the fireplaces will be covered with insulation/drywall/etc.
My chimney looks similar to this and is on an exterior wall:
Based on this article from Fine Home Building, I was just going to place a 2x8x16 stone patio paver over each outlet and call it good. They also mention a chimney balloon but I don't think I will bother with that.
But upon further research, I see some people claiming that the unused chimney still needs ventilation and that air bricks should be installed to prevent condensation? Eg:
https://www.mybuilder.com/questions/v/52483/how-to-ventilate-and-insulate-a-capped-chimney
https://www.diynot.com/diy/threads/sealing-a-capped-flue-without-any-airbricks.160312/
Any experience or input on this? If true, then I'd rather not create more issues and leave the top of the chimney open.
My chimney looks similar to this and is on an exterior wall:
Based on this article from Fine Home Building, I was just going to place a 2x8x16 stone patio paver over each outlet and call it good. They also mention a chimney balloon but I don't think I will bother with that.
But upon further research, I see some people claiming that the unused chimney still needs ventilation and that air bricks should be installed to prevent condensation? Eg:
https://www.mybuilder.com/questions/v/52483/how-to-ventilate-and-insulate-a-capped-chimney
https://www.diynot.com/diy/threads/sealing-a-capped-flue-without-any-airbricks.160312/
Any experience or input on this? If true, then I'd rather not create more issues and leave the top of the chimney open.
