COMMENTS PLEASE, before I smash things up!

[MR GUS]

this is the rear of the chimney in another room, on the other side of pic is where I need to insert my woodburner
..thanks for the re-sizing image advice folks) ...

 it's a regular fireplace insert set in a shallow breast, with an ornamental brick surround,
Based on this pic do you all reckon the support lintel is about 2/3rds up ? or not, went into the merchants today with the missus (error) bloke reckons i ouhgt to get a builder on the case (said he had no knowledge though) ..and the mrs agrees (she would)
do you reckopn its ok to bash the insert out (to throat lintel) & inspect or will that also weakeneverything as i'm assuming the proper load bearing lintel is way above but may need replacing to accomodate burner..

your thoughts please folks as I'm ready to rock with my crowbar & disc cutter!

[billi]

your thoughts please folks as I'm ready to rock with my crowbar & disc cutter!

Please cut around her !





do not mind elvis and his teeth 

[Ivan]

I'm trying to work out why there would be a lintel on this side at all. Are you thinking of the crook in the chimney (the bit to stop the rain falling into the fireplace?

[ajstoneservices]

Might have a keyed arch lintel or a concrete one just above the fire opening it could a chair brick and throating lintel, best chop off some plaster around 900mm high.


Tony

[sleepybubble]

can you turn the picture over so we can see the other side? Have you revealed the throat yet? if not remove any surround and mantle and cut back the plaster to the throat at least to see how its supported. Presuming its just a shallow fireplace and your not intending to inset the stove, I'd go ahead with removing the fire back but, but I'd want to see the throat lintel first, before committing to that advice. The fireback itself shouldn't be load bearing, expect it to be backfilled with a lot of rubble, broken bricks, old news papers, cement etc. You'd be surprised at how many rubble sacks you can fill stripping a fireplace out.

Whilst your in a destructive mood check to see how big the pad is, because invarible you need to build the hearth out to accomodate woodburner's and quite usually the hearth is only as big as the pad. So you'll have to think of some moderate load bearing under the floor timbers when you build the new hearth out.

regards,

Mark

[MR GUS]

ok I'll post a pic of the area to be attacked, the reason for the "other side photo" is that on the attack side it's merely a concrete fireplace in a hole in the wall (with a decorative brick surround) so thepic of the other side of the room is indicative of how the chimbley stands...
post it in a wee while

[KenB]

Gus,

This originally would have been 2 "back to back"  fireplaces, each with their own supporting lintel, and probably a single 4.5" dividing wall between the two.

Work done on the otherside should not cause problems on this side.  Try drilling a test hole through the dividing wall in a mortar joint to check its thickness and poke through with a thin rod to see if there is the remains of a fireplace behind the red wall that has previously been blocked off.


Ken

[MR GUS]

...the"lovely" ornamental brick surround is half a brick deep,
ideally though i'd like to place the woodburner as far back as poss in order not to put the hearth further into the room (hearth from front of fire is 470 mm / 18.5 inches)

[MR GUS]

incidentally before anyone comments on the mathmos(s) yep i do ave a problem around 46 of em!

no work done yet am in prepare & consult time (having de-camped everything into the dining room)

[sleepybubble]

ok well you need to remove the brick surround first of all. That way you be able to expose the sides of the fire back which will make it easier to remove. I can tell you now you are going to have to extend the hearth as you'll only just have enough room for an elbow on a rear entry within that fireplace with the fireback out, so the whole of the body of the stove is going to be in the room.
You did say it was a concrete chimney didn't you. So even if you were to remove the throat lintel and put a higher lintel in to hold the stack which I'd advise against doing (DIY) I doubt you'll get a top entry flue to line up with the chimney. Its going to be too shallow.  If it is concrete you'll proberbly find its already steel lined so you should be able to save money on a liner.
Best approach wouldbe to srip the fireback, build new hearth, test fit stove and brick the fireplace back up again with the flue going through brick work, then render brickwork etc. Fit stove back.
Have you thought out how you are going to sweep the chimney after the stove is in situ?

[CeeBee]

...you'll only just have enough room for an elbow on a rear entry within that fireplace with the fireback out, so the whole of the body of the stove is going to be in the room.

You can get 'inset' wood-burners. I've got one - a Stovax Stockton 7 (inset version). Not sure of its merits or otherwise (only one I've experienced) but it's designed with an air-convector 'jacket', and parts of the firebox protrude a little into the room. The back and sides are intended to be insulated with vermiculite/cement, so at least there's a chance of a good proportion of the heat entering the room. With mine, the flue goes straight up from the inset fire, so can be swept through the firebox (after removing baffle etc.). Only problem so far has been the tiled surround - the heat proves a bit much for it and the tiles don't stay attached - the installers have had several attempts at remedying this - latest effort awaits the start of the burning season to see whether it fares any better.

[sleepybubble]

Only problem so far has been the tiled surround - the heat proves a bit much from it and the tiles don't stay attached - the installers have had several attempts at remedying this - latest effort awaits the start of the burning season to see whether it fares any better.

Sounds like a substrate problem to me, what are they fixing the tiles too, and are they just using regular wall tile adhesive?
They'd be better to either use specific fireplace tile adhesive or mix up some single part flexible floor tile adhesive. And either use propriatry flexible grout or mix some additive into standard grout to make it flexible, but as installers they should know this!

One of my customers has an inset fire place which I have to refit after every single visit from the chimney sweep. He can't seem to get his head around the removable baffles at all and keeps pulling the whole fire out to sweep the chimney. She (the customer) wants to swop it for a stove though as the chimney draws like a dragon and she can't get enough control over the airflow, the house is in a fairly exposed coastal position though.

Do you have a back boiler on your inset? All the ones I have dealt with that have backboilers were plumbed at the same time as building the house, as the pipework generally exits the fireplace into the wall cavity, not something that is easy to achieve as a retrofit.

[MR GUS]

this is the unit in question Austroflamm G3,  if I can't get the pipe through the top there'll be big trouble from the missus

[MR GUS]

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[MR GUS]

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