I have two fireplaces on different floors that share a chimney. I do not know whether they share a flue. This season, we burned some wood logs in the upstairs fireplace which were sold to us by a local man. These seem to burn a bit smoky. Last season, we only used store-purchased wood and fire logs (sawdust-based?) that did not have as strong a smell. The chimney downstairs has not been used in several years.
Interestingly, the stairwell between floors smells faintly like smoke on some mornings. It is unclear to me whether this is a thing to be concerned about. We stopped using the upstairs fireplace out of caution, but there's a possibility that the smoke is unrelated. The downstairs fireplace does not have a strong smell. I presume it would if there was smoke getting into its flue.
After we stopped using the fireplace, there was a period of two days that I did not smell smoke in the stairwell, followed by one where I did. It has been 3-4 more days and no new smell.
The neighbor has recently been using a new outdoor fire pit, and maybe his smoke is getting in, but he's still burning and I have no more smoke accumulation.
Should I be concerned? What should I look for? What work should I or a professional perform?
