[Closed] Opening up the inglenook/ woodburner stove progress pics...

Already I have to say the bare bricks look better than the levitating fireplace.

@mcmoonter the levitating fireplace has always been a thing of mystery since we moved in, just why 😆

Eeek! That arch doesn't look very well braced.

Great - but the three I did all had new steel added to supplement the wee supporting band that the brick arch is likely currently supported on...

It should be easy enough to get some thickish and wideish flat bar rolled to the arc of the arch to support it.

did a similar job on ours last winter, our arch was also in a similar state, all a bit wibbly wobbly (technical speak 😀 )

Cut yourself a timber former to fit inside the opening and support the brickwork. Remove the arch and some of the brick work above the arch (stop panicking, it is self supporting). Fit the former and rebuild your arch and the brick work above.

Mine was even more funnerer as I had to rebuild the left side column too 😉

I did the same thing in our new house...living room was the only room that was in a decent state and had a modern electric fire with granite surround.

I went at it with an SDS drill and we now just have an exposed brick builders opening.

The top of the opening was straight with a steel t bar as a lintel. A friend of mine (a builder) said the lintels never look strong enough but the brick work is 'all tied in' so holds itself up.

To be fair though, the mortar in mine looks in better condition.

I feel your pain!
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@matt @mcmoonter theres a pretty sturdy lintel in situ, just needs the bricks repacking, the weight seems to spread quite well midway up and distribute the load down to the pillars

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@flicker any pics of yours?

@mchamish are you fitting a log burner in opening?

@wolly can't believe the amount of brick packed in there to narrow it, was all breeze blocks inside mine. Looks a lovely arch, are you taking the rest of the plaster off and exposing?

No it's all been plastered over i had enough clearing up to do after opening it out. if I was doing it again I think id pay someone to do it sooty dusty mucky but over all very satisfying job

This:

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Turned in to this:

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Ok, if we're playing look at my brick arch I'll put this up again. This had no lintel at all but I figured it had been there getting on for 120-130 years so it wasn't going to go anywhere. Brick infill wasn't holding anything up but it was all engineering bricks so had to do about 8 runs to the tip so I didn't overload the car.

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Would have been nice to keep the arch bare brick but it was a right mess and we were limited on time, had to be moved in a month after this was taken and there was a lot of work to do elsewhere as well.

@bigblackshed think i've seen yours before on here, horse shoe on the brick arch you left on show? cracking little touch!

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There you go, we've got some shots of during too, will try and track them down.

The hearth is a single slab and took three of us to get in the house and in position 😀

Picked it up from a reclamation yard for £70, was originally part of courtyard from a local church yard, shade over 3" thick.

@flicker I like that! what stove? arch left on show perfect finish.

@wolly the soot does seem to settle as a fine mist in distant rooms 😆

@northernmatt the arch is the lintel, when built right, think church windows etc looks a good size inglenook

the stove is a Charnwood country four.

The original arch was laid out the same but flush. When we rebuilt it we set the bricks approx 40-50mm proud to allow for render/plaster and still leave the bricks faces proud.

The internal is lined with 12mm hardibacker as the rear brickwork was a mess and would have needed a lot of work to look right.

@flicker cheers, gets a lot of mentions recently the Charnwood C-4 and Country 4.

Great stoves. 🙂
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cruzcampo, here you go.

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The horse shoe was a wedding gift, to "catch good luck". Everyone on my side of the family has one.

cruzcampo - yep it's huge. It's an old miners cottage so would have been where the range used to be hence the size. Not got a stove in yet but as we don't need one with a massive output it's going to look a bit lost. I'm sure the missus will come up with some ideas of what sort of tat to put in there.

@ matt, looking at the pic pretty sure you'd have room to have a single row stack of logs at each end of the opening. Should be far enough from the stove to comply with regs?

Hope that isn't your gas pipe capped off in the photo with the brick pillar?

@mchamish are you fitting a log burner in opening?

Yeah, I think we've settled on a Stovax Stockton 5 with a riven slate hearth and bare brick in the opening. We have an original art deco oak mantel/surround that we'll restore and fit over the opening. I've just got to finish off the pointing then it's ready for the stove fitters.

We've opened up the living to create a through lounge, and we've knocked the kitchen wall down to create a kitchen diner. As it's now fairly open downstairs I'm wondering whether we should get a higher output stove...my only reservation is will it be too hot for the living room.

@bear, yeah that's the gas pipe capped off. In the middle of the left pillar, and pushes under the floorboard when i'm ready to install the hearth. Done by a Hetas qualified chap, you reckon its at risk of ignition?

@bigblackshed may get a horse shoe, looks very vintage

@northernmatt the Stockon 5's are quite wide so should fill the space nicely, or the Stockton 5 midlines have a nice presence

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@mchamish, the fitter recommended 5kw for ours and said the Stockton 5 would be perfect, and we'd probably end up opening downstairs doors once its up to heat. Next door have a Tiger 5kw and find it heats upstairs and down very easily too.

I'm deciding between the Stockton 5 flattop and midline. Both multifuel with the smoke control kit. Make sure you get the MKII apparently over 20 improvements over the MKI.

Just gone through same process, from this
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A 30 year old stove, to this
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Just waiting on a stove

Like that finish what stone is that and which stove are you getting?

Looks supurb Dalesrider, that Morso was in great nick for its age too!

Any ideas on best product to seal the exposed brick with after i've had it pointed?

PVA?

That's what I used on ours.

@GR is that inside your inglenook? 5 water to 1 part PVA i'm reading

Yep inside. To be honest I can't remember what mix I used but think it was stronger than that.

Whats the sheen factor like? Want to bring out the brick colour which looks great when wet, but don't want too much gloss action 😆

I remember painting it on thinking I'd turned all the bricks white but it soaks in fine and I put quite a bit on too. Don't recall them being glossy, certainly aren't now three years down the line. 🙂

Cheers GR!

Pointer in today rebuilding the arch...

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Bricks have come out really nice 😯

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Very tidy, looks a really nice job that.

That's come up beautifully. What a difference!

Yes, good job!

Great job. Did you just remove the bricks that are out in the first pic, or did you go further?

Cheers. Its been pointed in lime mortar so in two minds whether I should seal it or not, likes to breathe lime mortar apparently, chap said to use linseed oil if I do.

@ononeorange just the bricks in the first pic, and the four that are resting on the arch in that pic.

What do the stove fitters attach the registry plate to? the arch or the inglenook sides

Angle iron further up the chimney where its level.