Bricked up fireplace

[peter212693]

Hi all,

Moved into out new place a few weeks ago no and noticed something odd.

Its a 1930s semi with two open fire places downstairs and 2 bricked up in the bedrooms. There are also 2 chimneys both with 4 pots each so 2 per stack per house.

Now the back room has a log burner with a steel cowl on the pot, ive used a smoke bomb in the burner to identify the pot. There is a clay pepper pot type cowl with holes in again on my side which is what I presume is the bedroom pot.

Now in the back bedroom there is a vent on the bricked up old fire on the skirting board:

Upon removing this is appears they have just cut the skirting away and knocked a brick out:

I presume this will be good enough?

Now the question I had is in the front bedroom there is no vent. I can see the pot is capped the same as the other but no vent. I presume I can just do the same as the one in the back bedroom and remove some skirting and remove a brick? Does it need a vent?

The downstairs front room fire is just open at the moment and the pot is also open / no cap. The previous owner has just stuffed a big bag of insulation up the chimney but left enough gap for some air flow. Im not sure what we are doing with this fireplace yet but the pot is remains uncapped. Shall I cap it anyway as we wont be using it as a fire, will either brick it up or make a feature of it.

Many thanks!

 

[ree]

Every room with a chimney breast will typically have had a fireplace. This fireplace could have been blocked up and left unvented. This is a bad practice with various consequencies in time.

All flues should be swept. This can entail opening up blocked fireplaces.
And smoke tested for leakage out of the flue walls.

Terminals inserted in the pots will allow thro ventilation and prevent birds etc accessing the flues.

All flues must be vented or open at their fireplaces - this is to allow the thro ventilation.

The vent in the skirting board is adequate but looking inside the opening you can see sooty debris from a presumably unswept flue.

FWIW: research my past posts on this subject, and Similar Threads at the bottom of this page.

 

[peter212693]

Thank you for your reply.

I will drill a small hole in the skirting at the weekend and see what I see. I could then fill it in and paint if I get nowhere.

In the case of sweeping the flues would a sweep be able to down sweep the chimney and then vacuum the crud from the bottom through the skirting vents if indeed they had not been swept?

 

[ree]

"drill a small hole in the skirting" where? What would you look for? Post pics on here of any areas or chimney breasts that you are doubtful about.

Call a sweep and ask but it might work out an expensive proposition.

 

[peter212693]

Thanks again.

This is the front bedroom without a vent:

This is the back bedroom with the vent:

This is the front living room with the open fireplace:

What I was thinking I could do with the skirting is drill a series of holes and in rectangle then cut the correct size hole for the vent?

 

[ree]

You certainly could drill and roughly saw the skirting for vents. But what do you intend to do about the, presumably, unswept flues?

You should have four terminals/pots on your side of the stack for four flues.

FWIW: examine all the c/breasts and their return walls for any signs of damp or mould or even dark smudges.
If any c/breast runs up an outside wall then go outside and look for a dark staining on the bricks or render.

 

[peter212693]

I do indeed have 4 pots my side of the chimneys. They are not external but on the party wall. I will pop my head into the loft at the weekend to make sure but when I checked up there the other day I could not see any staining on the bricks. All the c/breasts in the rooms appear to be clear too.

As for not being swept, I can only hope they where before being bricked up. I take it over time if not the soot will hold the moisture and potential cause damp issues even with ventilation?

I may have to call a sweep to have a look. I want the open pot fitting with a cowl and may get the flue the log burner uses swept to be sure thats been done too.

 

[ree]

I dont know what kind of log burner you have but for sure the flue should be swept if it doesn't have a flue liner. FWIW: you should also have a CO alarm near to.

Experience says that the flues were not swept before bricking up - it would be rare.

Your soot suggestion is correct in that hygroscopic salts will eventually arrive on your decorated c/breast.

Ask anyone who goes on the roof to video the stack condition for your future use.

 

[peter212693]

Im new to log burners myself but this is a picture from the survey we had done so not the best quality:

There is a steel flue going up the chimney and then wood around this as it to block the chimney off. I can get a picture from home later this evening if it helps.

I do have a CO alarm in the same room as the burner.

 

[ree]

The "steel flue going up the chimney" is a stove pipe that should attach to a flexi flue liner that goes to a custom terminal arrangement on the chimney stack. The flue cannot be swept if you have a liner?

Where you say wood is blocking off the flue is well wrong & dangerous. There should be a metal Register Plate and the stove pipe should go thro it to attach to the liner just above the Register Plate.

Does the CO alarm work?

 

[peter212693]

It does work yes. I will take a picture tonight when I get in and post it . It sits in something that looks like the Register Plate from googling. There appears to be a rubber seal around the edge too.

 

[stuart45]

Whether you have a Register plate or a Closure plate depends on if your flue has a s/s flexible liner. A register plate is for a flue without one, and a closure plate for one with an s/s one. Neither should be timber, but a Register plate should be metal.

 

[ree]

Closure plate is an occasionally used secondary term for a Register plate - its not a secondary meaning, or a different kind of plate with a different function but merely another infrequently used alternative term for a Register plate.

Now that google has muddied the waters with claims for different names and plate functions its become confusing for those that are not experienced in these things.

Register plate has been the most consistent term that i've heard.

All Register plates were and are made from metal - even when called a closure plate the plate must still be metal: nothing else.

 

[peter212693]

Looks like there is a metal plate on there.

 

[ree]

Thats good, hopefully you have an access door in the registry plate. The door allows you to look inside, and disconnect the stove pipe from the liner if needed.

The "rubber seal" will be some kind of caulking seal or perhaps discolored fire cement.