Fitting a wood burner in existing fireplace question.

After much reading and thinking have decided to get the chimney lined with a flue despite the cost….
I haven’t taken the fireplace out yet but the fitter has said that it’s more than likely the bricks in the inset might be in poor condition and would need protection from the heat. He mentioned 3 ways; heatproof render & plaster, vermiculite boards or a steel liner.
Has anyone else had a steel liner fitted as well?
A fireplace shop has given a ballpark figure of £150 with an edge facing trim. Think I will go for this option as my DIY skills are minimal but wondered if I should try a metal fabricator to see if it would be cheaper?

TIA

?
if the fireplace was a fire place then unless the brickwork is damaged it should be no problem siting a wood burner in thier.. remember the heat source is going to be 150mm from the brickwork and that originally the coal was piled up against that brickwork..

We had a steel liner filled around with vermiculite. It was a damn site more than 150 tho!

As Above really, i have fitted mine into existing fireplace with no problems at all. The brickwork doesn,t get that hot.

Ours was lined with fire-resistant plasterboard and plastered. It doesn’t get that hot.

Can’t see it being a problem, bricks are fired in kilns at up to 2000 degrees during manufacture.

I don’t think they’ll mind getting a bit of heat from a wood burner ?

Ours was lined with heatproof render. I guess it depends what sort of finish you want.

Were you hoping for bare brickwork?

Ours ended up looking like this:

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DSCN1611[/url] by Matthewjb[/url], on Flickr

/\ that looks nice. We are considering a log burner currently, any good links for advice on where to start, I have no idea whats involved.

This is a good start

http://www.stovesonline.co.uk/stove_help_and_advice.html

the first thing you need to think about is where are you going to get the fuel from and where to store it

We got a charnwood stove, not the cheapest but amazing quality with nifty feature. http://www.charnwood.com[/url%5D

/\ that looks nice. We are considering a log burner currently, any good links for advice on where to start, I have no idea whats involved.

We went into a well known family run shop (not one that’s just jumped on the fashion bandwagon) that sells woodburners and asked allsorts of questions.

Tell them to stick it. Your bricks will be fine unless they’re crumbling now.
There’s no direct flame contact and the max casing temp of your stove will be about 600f (500 is about the highest we get to) and that’ll be at least 6″ away.
Just noticed that your existing fireplace is still in, so the bricks have already been protected – fitter’s trying to stiff you

Deciding where you’re going to store and source the wood is a very good point. Before Christmas I had two nearly full stores. That’s nearly all gone with the cold weather.

We visited a few local shops and asked questions. I also looked at the many threads on here.

In the end we found a local self-employed fitter and bought the fire direct.

150mm from the brickwork

the 150mm limit is on on your hearth to make sure the carpet doesn’t catch fire. your fire doesn’t have to have this much clearance. Consider a dual layer convection stove as they’re more efficient and have a cooler outer surface, generally not much more expensive.

Thanks for feedback.

I dont think the fitter is trying to turn us over, he’s been very helpful on the phone when I told him which make and model stove we had he said we’d need to bring it forward a bit to allow the rear air vents to work properly.

Until I take the fire place out and see what condition the bricks will in and how much space is either side and behind the stove it’s all a bit of what would be the worse case scenario and what to do then.

As it is now, but taking this out to see what’s behind.

matthewjb, looks nice that. Are they sandstone slabs?

g_r – that’s the better looking version of our fireplace, ours has extra wonky bits.

you can lime plaster the bricks if you’re worried and clad them in some nice stone tiles. make sure you do not use a gypsum based plaster as it will crack.

The flue liner is probably a good idea if the house is old, it’s not about just the heat but also the condition of the brickwork all the way up the stack. My old 1837 house looked fine but we then spotted loose bricks in the loft when inspected. The ‘cement’ liner solved this and then protected any fears about heat.

matthewjb, looks nice that. Are they sandstone slabs?

Yorkstone I think. Which is a type of sandstone.

They were part of the original fireplace that the fitter managed to reuse.

I would love to pull out our gas fire and put a nice log burner in but the price of getting the flue put in is putting me off, I can’t see why it is needed. Why can’t I just stick a stove in there and get on with things?

I’ve heard so many view points on if you should line the chimney or not.
Was initially going to try it without but decided to cough up and save any worrying.
highclimber, thanks for that I’ll look into that. I’ll also have a look for some yorkstone/sandstone slabs too.

Why can’t I just stick a stove in there and get on with things?

The first thing we did was get the chimney swept and inspected. Cost about £40 and the sweep said we didn’t need a liner. Not everyone does but it’s worth getting it inspected to check.

Some people on here are confused between the OP’s steel fireplace liner at £150 and a flue liner, which will be nearer £50 a metre not installed. It would then be insulated with vermiculite – makes a nice flue, which draw well but may not be needed if the original flue is in good nick.

Warning: if you live in Lancashire don’t be tempted to use a prominent stove supplier in Ramsbottom, we came home to find their elderly fitter lurking in a corner of our garage and two weeks later we found a carton of Mrs Gti’s possessions had been filled with urine. We heard other stories about him being caught in people’s bedrooms. His boss is a nobhead too.

Grannyring… that is the biggest, fattest black and white cat I have ever seen. Bet he never moves from the fire

We had several estimates and a local Hetas registered gas fitter told me that the Woodburner installation course he went on included several businesses who informed him that they tell everyone they need a flue liner as they make a lot of profit on them…We got our gas fire removed and cleaned the brickwork up and had it lime rendered…Had the woodburner fitted without a liner as it is a class 1 chimney.It was swept and checked for draw prior to this and all working ok.

several businesses who informed him that they tell everyone they need a flue liner as they make a lot of profit on them.

^ This.

We’ve got one of these:

Used it every night for the last week, beautiful.

Mikey, what’s a class 1 chimney?

Our quote is around £1200 for fitting of flue liner (8m approx), chimney fixings & cowl/birdguard, vermiculite, register plate & pipe from stove to plate. To save a bit of dosh a mate and me are taking out the fireplace & putting down the new hearth, then seeing what we need to do with the bricks from the original chimney. Either patch them up (hopefully) or maybe put the steel liner in or render.

Cloudnine,5.5-6kg at the mo. He has been bigger but on a bit of a diet now and no he doesn’t move far from it. 🙂

Warning: if you live in Lancashire don’t be tempted to use a prominent stove supplier in Ramsbottom, we came home to find their elderly fitter lurking in a corner of our garage and two weeks later we found a carton of Mrs Gti’s possessions had been filled with urine. We heard other stories about him being caught in people’s bedrooms. His boss is a nobhead too.

Good job I read this ^

Anyone know any good fitters in the Rossendale area?

class 1 flue is a std brick built chimney.

Well, it’s in 🙂

Had to tidy up the bricks a tad but the look suits the house!
Plasterer coming tomorrow to tidy up the edges, thinking of keeping the brick arch exposed if poss.
Grey paint has arrived for the pipe so that should look more finished

Looks good…mine looks similar but without the stove…still waiting for it to turn up!
Did you get the chimney lined? How much did it cost if you dont mind me asking?

Ta.
Yes got it lined in the end for piece of mind. Glad I did because when scraping out the old lime mortar for repointing it was very dry and powdery.
For fitting of register plate, 316 liner, cowl and vermiculite backfill was £1200.

You prolly know this anyway – give the plaster lots of time to dry out naturally. Our bloke stressed this, lots.

Looks good but take heed of ^ – I can imagine new plaster getting ruined by the heat from the stove. Maybe you could put the plastering off until you’re not using the stove every night?
Glad to see the fitter was talking borrox about the brickwork.

Good shout about the plaster chaps thanks, didn’t think of that so will mention that to the plasterer and wait a couple of months

We had ours fitted a good 3 months before use, which helped with drying out the new plaster.

Looks lovely ^^^^

really could do with some advice. We speak are speaking to several professionals at the moment, who all give us different advice. Who do you believe?
We have two wood burners and noticed recently a build up of smoke, and have ahd tar leaking down the chimney when it rains. We had our chimney swept last summer, and have never had problems with it until then. First thing that happened was that we got lots of water down the chimney, so we had a cowl fitted. In view of the current issues, we decided to get somebody in to service our wood burners and sweep our chimneys. The guy who would service it came along and said that we need two new wood burners, new flues, and vermiculite lined chimney liners for both. Total cost £4500. Bit of a shock as we only thought they needed servicing. This guy said we are lucky to be alive. Then our builder told us, that this is rubbish, and that we do need some work, but that as the chimneys are terracotta lined, then are fine. What we do need is a cowl on the other chimney, a new flue (as it is no long sealed) and a barrier (can’t remember the technical term) made of metal sealing off the opening to the chimney and the flue. Who do we believe ?

thanks for your help