Open Fireplace - Wooden beam

[Ian2000t]

Thanks, I'll have a read.

What makes you think it would be 90's? As far as I know, it's original to the house build (1936), and was converted to some horrid 70's electric fireplace. When the previous owner moved in, he reinstated the original fireplace - I think he did add/replace the wood though.

Do see your points about open fires, but we use ours sensibly (we have a functional one in the lounge - I'll put a pic below):

Smoke & CO detectors
Use well seasoned hardwood
Let it die down well in advance of going out/going to bed. Obviously the embers still sit hot when you go to bed, but no spitting/crackling/flames.


Living room fire:

 

[bobsuerita]

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..

View attachment 132575 View attachment 132576

is that not just a piece of timber fixed to the face dosnt look like a beam if so why not just remove and replace with something more suitable

 

[motorbiking]

Your original fireplace would have been similar to the above, but probably heavily tiled.

 

[jj4091]

You could use something from here to protect the wood decorative heat proof sheeting , but I think a canopy like bosswhites is probably the best solution as it will stop smoke swirling out if you get a down draft during high winds.fire canopy designs

 

[bobasd]

it doesnt matter what you cover or mask the wood with, its to close to the opening. regs give min distances for any wood near to a fie or stove.

demolishin a chimney breast once i found the end of a joist one halfbrick from the fire. the joist was crumbled charcoal that hadnt flared up because no oxygen in the breast brickwork so i was told

 

[Bosswhite]

It appears building regs state a minimum of 400 mm from any combustible material but it drops to 150mm if a heat shield is fitted ( Canopy?)

 

[Ian2000t]

OK, I did some measuring yesterday.

The height (bottom of the wood beam, from the hearth) is 670mm.

The wood beam is only 100mm deep. If shielding it is an option, then I would prefer this to taking the wood beam out as we are not planning on decorating/plastering this room for some time.