I'm in the process of opening up a bricked up fireplace, at what height above the opening would you expect to find the construction lintel? I've knocked out enough bricks to be able to look up the chimeny and can't see a bloomin great lump of concrete supporting the chimney breast, which is making me slightly nervous…

The lintel supporting the masonry above the ope? You should be able to see that from the front, i.e the elevation if it isnt covered in plaster?

Depends – about 5 – 7 ft above the floor? It really depends what was in there in the first place – a small fireplace or a huge kitchen range.

There probably isnt a lintel. The victorians used high suction mortar to keep up the bricks above fireplace openings.

The lintel supporting the masonry above the ope

Is purely decorative 🙁

There probably isnt a lintel. The victorians used high suction mortar to keep up the bricks above fireplace openings.

1. Magic Suction Mortar, are you serious?
2. The house is from the 1920s
3. The original mortar has more or less turned to sand anyways 😛

Depends – about 5 – 7 ft above the floor? It really depends what was in there in the first place – a small fireplace or a huge kitchen range.

Ok, it's a lounge fireplace, chimney is roughly 18 inches square, should I be able to see the lintle from inside the chimney, or would it be hidden behind firebricks? I'm trying to not end up ripping all the wallpaper & plaster off of the chimney breast to confirm that it's there.

Stoner

It depends, my house was built by the victorians and there is a huge lintel in for a small opening.

Depends on the construction of the chimney too.

More details needed

Traditional lime mortars with high horsehair content can keep an open form without the use of arches, keystones or lintels. They still use the technique today in parts of the hebrides. Some builders continued to use it into the 1940s in England.

You should be able to see the lintel supporting the chimney breast masonry.

If you took off the wallpaper & plaster youll find it.

Our chimney had no lintel. Admittedly it is Victorian – 1896 – we took it up as far as we wanted then I put a concrete lintel in. Used some slate off cuts to level it and then filled in the brick work that has inevitably fallen during the process. Got it plastered over.

Bit scary to discover there wasnt one and has to be pretty delicate removing bricks – as you say the mortar was dust..!

Cheers all, the simple 'knock through the fireplace panel out and use void for bluray player etc' just got a fair bit more complex/expensive! Guess i'll have to goo lintel hunting, but not be suprised if I don't find one…

Id expect to find one in there somewhere if the opening isnt arched. Sorry, Im bored so was yanking your chain 😉

You have mail

Haha, got me with the second post 😆

I've opened up 4 fireplaces now – always used the same 'trick'

take a 2" wide bolster chisel and chase the plaster off to just that width, in a vertical line going up the middle of the chimney breast.

All things being equal you will eventually find out what is holding your fireplace open.
If you don't then it's a job for just patching up the 'chase' you put in, rather than a full re-plastering job (that's assuming the surrounding plaster is in good nick and has not lost it's key' and fallen off in the process…

In my last house it was, as mentioned above, 'just' bricks and mortar' but, with a piece of steel providing extra support – got lucky with my 2" chase – fell on a point where i could see the mortar joint changed, indicating a layer of bricks was laid different to the others = big clue where the top of the fireplace was..

Current house = needed pretty much gutting so, off with the bolster I went, exposing…
big stone lintel above small fireplace in lounge, left exposed when the plastering was done and
2 x 6ft x 5ft openings where kitchen ranges used to be, solid stone lintels and uprights….. again, cleaned up and left exposed, we store logs in them for the woodburner in the lounge 😀

Have fun – hope you find what you're looking for

marsdenman, that is inspired. If I hit the lintel the chase will mostly be hidden behind the TV, if not then the whole lot will be coming out anyways. Thanks.

You're welcome…

the chase will mostly be hidden behind the TV

Please God your not putting a TV on the chimney breast are you! That's the sort of slippery slope that will have you putting bar ends on your risers. 🙂