Alterations to the Chimney Breast

Hi,

We recently had our back boiler and accompanying fire removed as part of a heating system upgrade and what we would like to fit in its place is a quality wood-burner 'effect' fire (be it gas or electric) - think cast iron Broseley/Aga as opposed to tin can Valor/Dimplex. The thing is, even the smallest fires (of this type) will barely fit into the gap left from the old boiler/fire and cosmetically it would look better if the opening was a good 6-8" bigger.

Now if there is one thing I do know and that's not to mess with chimney breasts (especially living a semi-detached) and there is no way on gods earth that I'd even consider trying this as a DIY job.

Question is, Is this something that is realistic to do (even for a professional) and if so, could someone care to give me a ballpark figure of the kind of costs that this may entail so I can compare against Plan B - having a simple inset fire installed instead.

Sadie.

so long as there is enough 'meat' left on the sides of the chimney breast then make it bigger.

i would say that if you have about 335mm of masonry remaining each side, then make it bigger and lintel over accordingly.