Open Fireplace - Wooden beam

[Ian2000t]

We recently bought a house, which has an open fireplace in the dining room, with a wood beam above it. We've not used it since we moved in, but the previous owners did.

The chimney sweep advised against using it until we have "fireproofed" it. At the moment, there is just a sheet of steel on the underside of the wood beam to protect it from hot embers. But, that obviously doesn't protect it from gradual heat build up, which I assume could cause a fire on such a dry piece of wood.

One suggestion was to add a fire brick to the underside of the wood beam, to protect it from embers and heat. Something 25mm thick wouldn't really be obvious to look at either. Is this safe?

Are there any other safe suggestions? Other than, "don't use it", "replace with concrete" or "fit a wood burner instead"? The latter would be a possibility, but at the moment is something we can't afford, and I do like a nice open fire.

 

[jj4091]

How far is it between the bottom of the wood & the opening? Is it a mantle or a lintel?

 

[Ian2000t]

Can get measurements later. You can see it on this photo - if that helps at all?

https://imgur.com/JoSinHH

 

[bobasd]

its an A1 fire risk simply by proximity to the fire,it doesnt need contact with flames to burst into ignition. call a gas safe who does fires an flues.

 

[Ian2000t]

Call a gas safe for what? Advice, or a quote?

Just need to know what options I have first.

 

[jj4091]

Your pic suggests it is a dog basket just used for decoration rather than burning & on that basis the only thing you can probably use it for in it's present condition would be to house an electric fire. Only a site visit by someone qualified in the heat medium you would like to use can give you definitive advice.

 

[motorbiking]

That does look quite low. It may be the picture. Do you have room for a log burning stove? It will be much more use than an open fire and a lot safer.

 

[foxhole]

Does not look like it was used for an open fire , the basket is too large and there appears to be no hearth?

 

[bobasd]

call a gas safe for safe options an a quote.but unless you have definit ideasit can only be a rough quote.some sweeps are gas safe an good fitters

 

[Ian2000t]

It has definitely been used as an open fire by previous owners. I know this because they told us so, there were ashes in the basket, the brickwork is sooted, and the underside of the wood is also a bit charred.

We had a sweep round who cleaned the chimney - said the chimney itself was drawing fine and was safe - but gave a warning about the fireplace:

- Hearth too short
- Wooden beam not safe

He suggested a proper fireproof fibreglass hearth mat could resolve the first one, and sealing the beam off with fire bricks could be a possibility for the wooden beam. I came here to ask further opinions, and see if anyone else has had similar?

I've attached a couple more photos which show it better. Previous owner put a thin sheet of steel on the underside of the beam to "protect it", but obviously heat transfers well through steel, so I'm not happy with this solution..

 

[motorbiking]

So based on the size of the bottles its under 600mm high. Its going to require a lot of work to make it comply with current fire/building control needs should you wish to bring it up to spec.
It might be worth looking at an inset or cassette stove instead. Not going to be cheap, but 100 x better and safer.
e.g. http://www.broseleyfires.com/Wood-Stoves/Evolution-4---7_Wood-Burning-Insets.html#

I have one of these as its approved to not require a normal hearth (just 12mm from memory) :

 

[Ian2000t]

OK thanks. Is there anywhere I can view the current fire/building controls?

I don't mean to sound ignorant here, but the current fire/building regs are new rules for new builds. The same strict rules would not have been around when the house was built (1936), yet the fireplace would have been used and complied with building regs at the time (however minimal these might have been).

I suppose what I'm saying is, what can be done to make the fireplace safe, without going to the full extent to comply exactly with the current new build regs?

In theory, if the wood wasn't there, and the hearth was an extra 30cm deep, it would be fine to use.

 

[Bosswhite]

We had the same problem when we opened up a 1950`s ceramic tiled Fireplace to find open area for original fire, it had remnants of Bread Oven and Bacon Hooks up the chimney, similar oak beam across the fire place,
we had the chimney lined fire cement mix and balloon procedure, we then got a local Blacksmith to make up and canopy and chimney which we bolted to the back of the chimney breast, about a foot or so above the basket protruding slightly out from the basket so no sparks got between the canopy and the beam plus air space between canopy and beam so there is no way the beam can catch fire ,
we also brought the hearthstone flags out half a flagstone width to stop any burning embers falling out of the hearth onto the timber floor un- noticed.

Similar to this picture

 

[Ian2000t]

We had the same problem when we opened up a 1950`s ceramic tiled Fireplace to find open area for original fire, it had remnants of Bread Oven and Bacon Hooks up the chimney, similar oak beam across the fire place,
we had the chimney lined fire cement mix and balloon procedure, we then got a local Blacksmith to make up and canopy and chimney which we bolted to the back of the chimney breast, about a foot or so above the basket protruding slightly out from the basket so no sparks got between the canopy and the beam plus air space between canopy and beam so there is no way the beam can catch fire ,
we also brought the hearthstone flags out half a flagstone width to stop any burning embers falling out of the hearth onto the timber floor un- noticed.

Don't suppose you have any photos do you?

 

[motorbiking]

Approved Document J
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/468872/ADJ_LOCKED.pdf

My house was built in 1920, I installed one of my fire places before the regs came in, the other was done after the rules changed. I'm afraid your surveyor IMO should have picked up on the fire place as there is no way this was built pre-regs. At a push maybe late 90s, in which case you might have got away with it.

To make it safe, you need to think about Fire control, combustible surfaces as minimum. Open fires just can't be made safe in my opinion as you have no way to shut the oxygen off, so you cant do anything to control the burn say, when you go to bed. In that case its about having non-combustible surfaces within spitting/sparking distance. (1.5M).

Other tips:
install smoke detectors
damp it down when you go to bed.
have a fire extinguisher handy
burn well seasoned wood
use it very occasionally.