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.
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.