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Can't say we were massively impressed with the survey tbh! Lots of the reported damp was just where the wet dog had been against the wall... We'll have a look tomorrow. I'm surprised the house doesn't have a cellar tbh, it's the right age and raised plenty from road level so who knows what...

They didn't say anything about it, we had an independent survey done as well and it wasn't mentioned as a cause for concern (although the previous owners had the room carpetted so it was likely less obvious). He mentioned some sponginess in the floorboards as potential damp or rot of floor...

I think it's just a movement issue, the house is late 1800s and is raised about 2/3 feet above ground level as the road slopes down to the main road. I'm guessing it's just shifted over time as even though we're in a coal mining area, our coal mine search said there were none in the immediate...

Hi vinn, There is an arch there it's just a bit higher than the photo goes, so no worries there. What you can see at the back is actually some bricks that are just in the fireplace rather than a back hearth- this is the third fireplace we've opened in the house and none have had back hearths...

Not really, no. I'm not hugely bothered about the regs as I know if I were to put the burner not in a fireplace, I'd only need 12mm, so the requirement for it to be 125mm just because it's recessed seems ridiculous to me. It's frustrating that the various installers made different assertions...

Photos attached.

Hi all, We've just bought a logburner for our living room. I've opened the original Victorian fireplace, no problem. The issue we're stuck with at present is that the floor in the room slopes quite considerably (by an inch from one side of the fire opening to the other!). Now I know building...

We aren't ever planning to sell, but you never know so good point! Might just use the bricks that we've taken out to fill back in then.

There's a concrete hearth in the room that I was just expecting to go backward into the fireplace. So would you suggest just putting some rubble back in and creating a bit of a false bottom with some wood or something given that we don't plan to set any fires in it?

Hiya, No it's on the first floor. It was full of dust and rubble, old smashed tiles/bricks etc. We aren't intending to use it as a fire, but will be putting a cast iron fire surround in.

Hi, we've now knocked one out, but the doesn't seem to a bottom to it! We've cleaned it out to probably 10inches below floor level and stil haven't found a bottom/back hearth to it :S Any ideas? Should we worry?

I'll pull up a couple of floorboard and have a dig around. Thanks, you've put my mind at rest a bit, I expected for the wall to go solidly down to whatever support had been put in so just assumed they hadn't bothered (the house is full of bizarre bodges).

It sounds pretty empty when you knock on it. If there is something in there, which there may be, it doesn't have anything between that and the chimney breast above :S

And this is the listing picture of the upstairs room just for comparison...

Sorry, forgot to attach!

Yep, the sides and back continue down into the kitchen/ground, i think. It's just the front wall that ends above floor level that I can so far. I've attached an old picture of the kitchen (from the listing), however, and it dear I'm going to find that the right hand side of the chimney breast...

Argh! Secondary conundrum, if anyone can help with it. The fireplace pictured above is in our back bedroom, above the kitchen, where the previous owner removed the front wall of the chimney breast to put in a range cooker. They assured us it had had an RSJ installed and out solicitor, being...

Sounds good, thanks Gerry! I might uncover a different fireplace and knock that out first. The fact that the bricks in the arch of this one have been chipped out worries me as I have no idea how thick they were to begin with/whats left of them and if they're down to a cm or so it might be a bit...

Hi Gerry, I read the stove fitters doc last week before i started and it was talking about lintels and as i couldn't see one i was put off actually knocking anything out in case there wasn't enough support in place to hold up the chimney breast. We're being quite tentative (well the OH more...

Apologies, photos didn't want to attach via phone.