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Any chimney experts about

27 posts & 10 voices | Started 3 months ago by Rusty Mac | Latest reply from Rusty Mac

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Rusty Mac - Member

This weekend has been mostly spent pulling out my chimney with the intention of boxing into it with fire line plaster and geting it skimmed so that in the future i could get a wood burner installed.

there are 2 problems with this that i have come accross so far:-

1 there is a hole in the back corner of the chimney where two pipes went through to the kitchen from what i can only presume was a back bioler. Obviously power drills were not available when the pipes were installed and smashing the bricks out was the only way it could be done.

2 Since removing the old fire place/back boler thing and 2 lots of tiled harths and surrounds i have descovered the lintle accross the top for the chimney is made of concrete and currently sticks out into the room about an inch.

Who do i need to get in to quote for the repair work to the cimney and can anything be done to move the lintle so it is flush with the wall it is on or 10mm or so behind it so i can plaster over the top of it?

Thanks

Russell

Posted 3 months ago #
Rusty Mac - Member

This is the hole

Hole in chimney by RussellMacnamara, on Flickr

Posted 3 months ago #
gooner69 - Member

ygm

Posted 3 months ago #
elzorillo - Member

Re the lintel.. You could easily take a few bricks out above the old lintel and replace. If you're worried about it falling down you could always hire a srongboy to support the brickwork. Did the same myself before christmas and it was dead easy.

But... If you're plastering anyway and the lintel is sticking 10mm beyond the brick, cant you just skim the existing lintel with a very thin layer of plaster to build up to the level of plaster you'll put on the brickwork.

Also.. maybe you're putting a surround. if so, wont that hide the lintel?

One tip.. Remember the plaster will get VERY hot. It WILL blow and fall off or crack if you dont leave a decent space from the stove.

Good luck.

Some pics of my effort Here

Edit: just read it's an inch not 10mm (god knows where I got 10mm from)

Posted 3 months ago #
totalshell - Member

re your holes.. rip out the surrounding and re brick with whole or part brick.. or just fill with part bricks and mortar
as above whip out the lintel its only one long brick after all, if the structure above is half sound it will hold while you replace..

Posted 3 months ago #
Rusty Mac - Member

Cheers for the replies guys, I saved some of the similar sized bricks to those that seem to be missing, will mix up some mortar and do my best to replace them.

I'll post some pics of the lintel tomorrow night to give a better idea what it is like from inside and outside of the chimney breast. I'm a little confused as to how I could shift it. I am presuming if I wanted to get someone in to do it I'd be looking for a builder?

Posted 3 months ago #
Rusty Mac - Member

Bit of a bump for the mornign crowed and anothe question:-

Can annyone recommend a good builder in Aberdeen?

Posted 3 months ago #
Rusty Mac - Member

Update with pics

This is the chimney as you look at it, the lintel extends well into the brick work on the left.

Fire place by RussellMacnamara, on Flickr

This will give a better idea how far beyond the plaster the lintle is sticking out.

Stupid lintel by RussellMacnamara, on Flickr

What would you do?

Posted 3 months ago #
wwaswas - Member

Never seen a lathe and plaster wall by a fireplace like that!

I'd get a professional in that lintel loos fairly knackered and it's illegal to fit your own woodburner anyway as far as I know?

Posted 3 months ago #
trail_rat - Member

Not illigal but frowned upon and if it goes wrong then its against law

Anyway rustymac north south or west of aberdeen ?

Posted 3 months ago #
Rusty Mac - Member

The lighter bit on the mantle is where there was some over flow of plaster that has been roghly chipped off.

The lathe and plaster isn't too much of a concern. I'll be able to tidy the edges of the lathes back to the edge of the brick work and plaster board over the top.

As far as i am aware as long as there is no flamable material within 150mm of the edge of the wood burner i will be fine. Not planning on installing a wood burner yet, but trying to plan ahead for when i do get one installed.

Posted 3 months ago #
Rusty Mac - Member

@ trail_rat I'm in the city centre. Not far off Holburn St

Posted 3 months ago #
bedmaker - Member

I did one that looked almost exactly the same as that last friday. (apart from the lath and plaster)
Took out the lintol and one course of brick above the lintol then put a thinner lintol in where the bricks had been, flush with the wall.
Not illegal to do your own in scotland but it must comply with building regs.

Posted 3 months ago #
bedmaker - Member

As far as i am aware as long as there is no flamable material within ~~150mm~~ 450mm of the edge of the wood burner i will be fine.

unles it's shielded from radiant heat.

Posted 3 months ago #
Rusty Mac - Member

Humn, maybe i miss understood but 3.19 of the scottish building regs suggests that 150mm is a suitable distance from flamable material for a wood burner that will be part housed within the chimney brest but i will go back and re read it as it wouldn't be too much trouble to rip out the lathes entirely and re-plaster the stud work with fireline plaster.

Posted 3 months ago #
trail_rat - Member

Tbh rustymac im sitting in my rented recenttly renovated to building regs cottage looking at my woodburner and its set back into the fireplace and its no where near 450mm Away from sides

Is 150mm though ......

Ignore the inglanders !

My (old) man wont go that far imafraid - for some reason i thought you were stonehaven !

Posted 3 months ago #
Rusty Mac - Member

Damn, not in Stoney, only just into the city from the South though

How is the house hunting going?

Posted 3 months ago #
trail_rat - Member

Haha he is from arbroath though so its a fair travel

Not great but im no fussed ill find something in budget or ill have a big enough deposit to get something

Just making sure the mrs doesnt get carried away with just jumping on anything that comes up With 4 walls and a roof

Got bombed out on a house in cove last week so suitable houses do exist

Posted 3 months ago #
Rusty Mac - Member

It would be a fair trek in from Arbroath, if he knows of anyone closer who he could recommend I would appreciate there details. My email address is in my profile.

I'm sure you'll find something suitable, hope it is not too long a wait.

Posted 3 months ago #
matthewjb - Member

Hard to tell but the space looks quite narrow. It may be difficult to get a stove in.

You need a bit of clearance round the stove to allow proper circulation of air etc.

Our fireplace is 54cm across and that's about as narrow as you can be and still fit a stove. Otherwise you would need to install an insert fire instead.

Posted 3 months ago #
Rusty Mac - Member

matthewjb - looks like your fireplace is exactly the same size as mine, plan is down the line for a smaller 4kW fire to give maximum air space for circulation.

Posted 3 months ago #
matthewjb - Member

looks like your fireplace is exactly the same size as mine

Ours is a Morso 04

DSCN1611 by Matthewjb, on Flickr

Posted 3 months ago #
Rusty Mac - Member

If I can get the lintol sorted that is almost exactly what I'd want. Only difference being I'd like a granite harth stone. I want to go for a similar style stove.

Posted 3 months ago #
totalshell - Member

i'd fit another layer of plaster board to the wall surface to bring it flush with existing lintel.. thtas no small or light piece of stone/ concrete and best left insitu.

the plaster boarding will give a decent surface to skim over i'd nail and dot/ dabb the board in place

i'd not have any issues fitting a 4kw wood burner in there as long as theres 150 all round the underside of the opening does get mighty warm though so i'd certainly want plenty of room above the burner..

Posted 3 months ago #
globalti - Member

Make sure the plaster extends for a good distance away from the fire - any patching and the joint between old and new will soon crack due to the differential expansions between old and new. We patched around our fireplace and now there's a crack all the way around; we wish we had chipped away the plaster further back or skimmed the entire wall.

Posted 3 months ago #
warton - Member

why don't you make a feature out of the lintel. get a skutch and get chipping away! I'm currently doing mine...

The bottom left of the stone is what it started off as, the rest is after spending a lot of time chipping the crap off...

EDIT: I've just read yours is made of concrete, maybe not then.

Posted 3 months ago #
Rusty Mac - Member

Running plasterboard accross the whole wall is a possibility but the chimney breast does not stick out like wartons, i'd need to completely re-do a door frame that is currently located about a meter or two to the right of the fire. The plaster would probably end up being 3 sheets thick to make up the difference which could make that option quite expensive.

The other option i have bouncing round my head is to get a new mantle built to box in the ugly bit in and frame the fire. It might look something like this, sorry for the squint picture.

Stupid lintol hidden by RussellMacnamara, on Flickr

Posted 3 months ago #