Chimney Breast Restore & Stove Installation

[lawlor]

Hi,
After thinking about it for months- getting a wood burner that is- we were instantly convinced when we saw the Burley Stoves on Thursday, they are 90% efficient and look great.
So last night i ripped some on the plasterboard covering up the old fireplace. First i was horrified at the state of the brick work but as i opened more up there is a nice brick arch higher up, not central which is annoying but still should look nice. The bad brick work was just where the old larger fireplace had been filled in to accommodate the smaller one.

Now the fireplace is redbrick (as is the whole house) when doing other repairs i have always used a usual cement mortar. The house is after all rendered in a cement render. But as this is a feature should i use lime mortar to repoint? and if so which type? Non-Hydraulic or hydraulic? and is there anything else i should know about lime first? i have never used it before.

As for the stove install im probably going to go down the route of getting a HETAS guy in to have a look and seeing if he will let me do all the donkey work and then he can just connect it all up- to save on cost.

This all obv might not make alot of sense without pics so i will take some this evening.

Cheers
Ben

Oh also where is best to get Lime from?
I'm down in deepest darkest Cornwall

 

[lawlor]

Ok, Have answered my own question am going to use Lime Putty based mortar. and am now also looking into other lime products as i think some of the damp issues in the house could be due to the use of external and internal modern finishes.
and the Cornish supplier of lime products is
http://www.cornishlime.co.uk/

Looks like the rule of thumb for mortar is to use mortar softer than your brick/stone/block.

 

[ibby]

also remb, that lime motar takes longer to set.

 

[mointainwalker]

when we saw the Burley Stoves on Thursday, they are 90% efficient and look great.

I see that's what they claim, but being of a suspicious nature, I don't believe it as nearly all stoves I have looked at are in the mid 70's. I think there would be major newspaper headlines if someone had made a wood-stove almost as efficient as a condensing gas-boiler.

 

[lawlor]

read up on it. and see how it works.
looks good to me. lots of bits on it that other stoves dont have.

 

[mointainwalker]

how about a link then ? I;ve tried looking up the heat exchanger name but no information except a list of company directorships.

 

[mointainwalker]

Ok have found more detail and I have to say that it is an impressive presentation but I continue to be suspicious.

One reason is that, having been a salesman all my working life, I know that a lot of sales material is written to deceive the customer and work as a sales-aid for the salesman.

The literature itself says how it is impossible for the customer to check the figures, so they confirm they are asking you to take what they say on trust. They mention the European test company who thought their instruments were broken but do not name them. If this were a reputed organisation like TUV in Germany, stating that would be a major boost to believability so why not do they not name the tester ?

The last thing is so much of their "technology" is patent pending i.e. not yet patented. Once again many companies use this route to look impressive without ever actually submitting their processes to patent, simply because it looks good on the brochures.

I would actually like this to be true and will try and look at their stoves when I get an opportunity but please, if you do get one, let us know if it really does perform as they say. particularly on something that is measurable like their 100 kg of wood down to a pint glass of ash.

 

[lawlor]

yeah will do, From what i see even if its 80% as the best jotuls, morsos etc i would have saved some cash and bought British! If they are right i get an amazing 90% efficient stove!

Just going up to teh local stove place in a min to talk to them about the other bits first. I have a fireplace that needs to be pointed and maybe so other walls...
Im thinking of taking all they gypsum off the walls and pointing in original Lime, then either limewashing or lime rendering.
I will update later

 

[lawlor]

a small update,
went to stove place to talk to them about it. install form them is £360 which seems ok. he said the Burleys have had a good reception from customers and sell well.
I have also cracked on with getting the chimney breast sorted. old crap removed. Will email Cornish Lime Co later and go get some lime to repoint on Thursday. Am hoping end of month/beginning of next to have stove installed. Progress pics will be on facebook

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.356725957685045.87862.100000429314611&type=1&l=5b1a0a8a2b

The old fireplace was back filled with building rubble and concrete... luckly my Metabo SDS was up to it.... would have taken days with hammer and cold chisel!!