So today i decided to open up my blocked up fireplace…..

but i didnt find quite waht i was expecting. The fireplace had be plasterboarded over but there are two courses of bricks rising from the floor. Secondly the sides of the opening where the bricks are layed Jack on jack which are unsupported from the base and therefore floating in mid air, there appears to be no hearth and finally there is no lintel, that i can find.

So my questions is,

the bricks at the inside the sides of the opening, have these been put there at a later date and are they likely to drop since i have removed all the debris from underneath?

the house is a 1920's terrace in sheffield by the way

Thanks

Picture!

Bricks and mortar subject to extremes of heat tend to be brittle.
Bricks and mortar are strong in compression but not in tension, so anything floating will be unstable.

Any skelingtons?

Pics would help but I'm guessing there was once a partial infil to have a wall hung or similar gas fire, then changed again when plasterboarded up.

The unsupported bricks, i have propped it up badly with another brick

The flue, is there a back boiler here?

Thanks

one more , oh and no skeletons or bones…yet

can't see a problem myself

What were you expecting to find a Victorian fireplace?

wouldn't worry too much, I did the same in our similar aged terrace, took some work but is worth the effort,

it went from this:

to this

and now it looks like this

Good job there 2hottie, it looks like i have a lot more chizeling to do…

One of the things that confused me was the 14" wide hole in a 64" wide fire place any ideas on how wie the opening should be?

Thanks

Cant beat an open fire. I fueled this one on peat, perfect with a dram

I want 2hottie to do my fireplace!

looks to me like someone made the opening smaller at some stage, are you sure the original fireplace wasn't wider?

Lig burners ftw open fires loose way too much heat. MIL was baby sitting for us last night, being a lizard she needs heat so deal was I had to have the burner on. Jesus Christ it may not gave been the warmest of days yesterday but a burner even on minimum in may was unbearable.

have opened 3 out in our place!!
2 are like hotties – 2 biggest are in rooms that are little used so no value in putting burners in – look great though – we stack logs in them, supplying the woodburner in the lounge!

finally there is no lintel, that i can find

.
What I did was to chase the paster off right across the chimney breast, and up until I found something that looked like supporting material – just a 3" wide chase – width of the bolster chisel I had to hand, so I'd suggest you try that – nothing to lose as you've got repair works to do anyway!
Have fun!

I took out a back boiler and opened the fire place in a 60s terrace .I installed a log burner and built a mantle shelf from a reclaimed scaffold plank .I used pva to coat the brickwork to seal them .It looks better than the 80s reconstituted stone thing that ran the width of the living room that was there before

I think you need to take a load more plaster off to see what's there. It's building regs notifiable work, btw.

An update

That's a lot easier. Hammer time!

Nickjb , what is notifiable opening up the chimney? I thought its was only in regards to installing a new or replacement hearth, fireplace or flue.

Or is removing the bricked up wall notifiable?

Just making a hole is fine (usually). If you want to put a fire or log burner in then you'll need to get involved with building regs.

Yeah as i thought, you had me worrying there though. Thanks anyway better to be safe than sorry.

2hottie.

you've got the same coffee table as my parents!! 😆

Ha that coffee table was passed down by the girlfriends parents who have had it since the 70's I think. I can't recommend a wood burner enough, just consider if you are in a "smokeless" zone which we are, You need a clean burn fire ours is the Morso Squirrel 1412, gives out 5Kw of heat which is plenty for the room that's in.