Victorian Fireplace - Insert Missing

[Matt101]

Hi, hope this is the right place.

We have some cast iron fireplaces in our house, which all had thick layers of paint on them. I have stripped and repainted the back-room surround, but for some reason this is the only one in the house that is boarded up.

How it was before (please ignore the mess). This is the only picture i could find (it was from 2004).




Here's the fireplace as it is now (please ignore the wallpaper sample). (Click to enlarge).




Another view (Click to enlarge).

I also uncovered some tiles underneath all of the modern tiles and paint. Two of them are cracked through, although only the top left one really notices.

A close-up of the detail




We would like to unboard the fireplace, and fit a suitable insert. I won't be used as a working fireplace, but more of an "Ornamental" feature.

I took the vent off, and shone a touch in there, and at first sight it all seamed good. There is a clay back that is intact (except for a few cracks), and there is not much debris in there. The problem is, is that directly behing the top half of the board is a piece of material about 18mm thick that, and is a brown colour.

Could this contain asbestos, and what it is? How would we go about getting rid of it?

Also, does anyone know what this fireplace style dates to, and any complete examples of one. I can not find any pictures of one similar anywhere.

Thanks for reading .[/img]

 

[JohnD]

let's see a pic of this board you mention.

asbestos cement board is greyish-white in colour, usually only about 10mm thick, has one smooth and one rough surface. It is not very dangerous but you should be careful not to break, abrade or drill it, and you should wipe up any dust with a damp cloth and seal it (damp) in a poly bag to prevent it drying out and releasing dust. It doesn't sound like asbestos cement to me.

there are also some asbestos seals that look like fluffy white rope. I doubt you will have that but they make more dust.

in an ordinary house you are unlikely to have asbestos wool insulation, which is dangerous, unless a previous occupant stole it from work as a boilermaker or similar.

An 18mm thick, brown thing is more likely wood or chipboard.

 

[Robbie uk]

I doubt that they are the original tiles for that fire. you can still get tile sets try here http://www.castironfires.com/dept.asp?id=6 Behind the board on a small bedroon grate would probably been cast iron as well. Most of these bedroom grates are worth around £400-500 now when renovated.

 

[dbleman]

The problem you have is when cast iron fireplace were made they were generally at small local foundries, although there were a few large ones serving parts of the country. Anyway, from experience I can tell you your chances of finding the exact back is slight. The thing to do is measure up, particularly to the lungs or screw fixings and then visit as many architectural yards as you can. Theres an excellent one near St Albans in the south or Harrogate in the north (farm with about 5,000 fireplaces).

All of the four back I have refitted had to be done from the rear of the fire, so you may have to remove it (careful they crack easily), although if is possible to slide on in and wedge it in place (the screws are normally badly corraded anyway).

As its only for decoration you should be able to get a back that looks fine, one of mine has a crack in it and is 2" too big, but only I would notice. If you do take it out its really worth having it sandblasted to make the design stand out.

As for the board, if it is asbestos it will only contain a small percentage, so just be careful and bag it as JohnD suggested.