Hi Guys,
I am a disabled council tenant & a couple of years ago after the contracted gas engineer did his annual service & check he condemned the chimney flue due to fumes being detected in the living room.
At this time I asked the council surveyor who had to confirm the outcome of the incident whether there could be anything done to make the flue usable again but he would not entertain the idea giving me no explanation, it is possible that it may have just been a budget issue. Soon afterwards we had the back-boiler & gas fire removed, the hole was blocked up very badly & excess plaster was applied to the finished job.
Whilst doing some DIY, I thought I would tidy up the plaster so that it was flush with the wall. During this process cracks started to appear in the plaster in the shape of breeze blocks & obviously I realised something was amiss. Upon further investigation it was evident that the hole had been filled with breeze blocks stacked on top of each other with no mortar & cruedely plastered over! I removed all of the breeze blocks which now has left a gaping hole in the chimney breast.
My questions are these:
Is it reasonable to assume that the flue can be made usable again, what might this entail & how much might it cost?
If it is not possible to fix the condemned flue then I have been considering a flueless fire, but upon reading posts on this forum from a few years ago I have noticed that many of you will not entertain using these in any circumstance, so my 2nd question is:
Are flueless fires still seen as a danger or has technology advanced in the last few years & are they now worth considering?
My last question is:
I have gas central heating fired from a combi boiler which is fine when it is running from the timer, but at times when the central heating is not on my home is extremely cold so would it be feesable to refit a gas fire if the flue could be made effective?
I know that my post is very long but I thought I would try & give as much info as possible & if any more info is needed for advise then please let me know.
Thank you in advance for any advise that you may be able to offer.
Jon
I am a disabled council tenant & a couple of years ago after the contracted gas engineer did his annual service & check he condemned the chimney flue due to fumes being detected in the living room.
At this time I asked the council surveyor who had to confirm the outcome of the incident whether there could be anything done to make the flue usable again but he would not entertain the idea giving me no explanation, it is possible that it may have just been a budget issue. Soon afterwards we had the back-boiler & gas fire removed, the hole was blocked up very badly & excess plaster was applied to the finished job.
Whilst doing some DIY, I thought I would tidy up the plaster so that it was flush with the wall. During this process cracks started to appear in the plaster in the shape of breeze blocks & obviously I realised something was amiss. Upon further investigation it was evident that the hole had been filled with breeze blocks stacked on top of each other with no mortar & cruedely plastered over! I removed all of the breeze blocks which now has left a gaping hole in the chimney breast.
My questions are these:
Is it reasonable to assume that the flue can be made usable again, what might this entail & how much might it cost?
If it is not possible to fix the condemned flue then I have been considering a flueless fire, but upon reading posts on this forum from a few years ago I have noticed that many of you will not entertain using these in any circumstance, so my 2nd question is:
Are flueless fires still seen as a danger or has technology advanced in the last few years & are they now worth considering?
My last question is:
I have gas central heating fired from a combi boiler which is fine when it is running from the timer, but at times when the central heating is not on my home is extremely cold so would it be feesable to refit a gas fire if the flue could be made effective?
I know that my post is very long but I thought I would try & give as much info as possible & if any more info is needed for advise then please let me know.
Thank you in advance for any advise that you may be able to offer.
Jon