builders opening

[dano25]

Hello everyone,

I am trying to figure out how much opening up I can do with my firebox before I start getting into structural support.

I have read a few articles on small stove fitters and they mentioned if bricks are stacked instead of interlocked they might be infill instead of a gather.

Can anyone help with this?

 

[tomfe]

Looks all structural to me but then I am not familiar with American buildings.

 

[bobasd]

you cant widen that opening anymore.the flue needs sweeping and smoketesting. yon need the mfrs dimension for your stove and probly a ss flue liner. why not get a proper installer on site to have a look?
is the steel bar lintel present in one photo and missing in the next? you must have some kind of lintel

 

[dano25]

you cant widen that opening anymore.the flue needs sweeping and smoketesting. yon need the mfrs dimension for your stove and probly a ss flue liner. why not get a proper installer on site to have a look?
is the steel bar lintel present in one photo and missing in the next? you must have some kind of lintel

Okay that’s a good idea. One picture has no lintel because I was still trying to find the builders opening.

 

[Doggit]

What sort of opening do you want - a wider or taller one. You can take it higher as long as the throat opens up as well. You can then set the new lintel in, and repoint any dropped bricks afterwards. Widening it will be a bit more tricky, and would require the upper part of the chimney being supported whilst you remove the opening and the wooden frame around it, and then building to the width you want. A wider picture from a bit further back would help.

If the stove can be swept from inside it, then you can use a SS liner, or not, your choice, but that size throat can't be swept from a register plate. What are you doing about a chimney cowel.

 

[bobasd]

you cant widen that opening any more because that chimney is a free standing chimney with stud framing wall on either side. going higher is risky because the corbelling bricks could lose there support.there could be 2or3 storys of freestanding bricks above