fireplace

Hi folks, first time poster and newbie but I’m in the middle of renovating my living room and the previous owners had removed and bricked up the fire place. I’ve removed the plaster and my intention is to open it back up and have a cast iron insert installed. I believe I can see what would be...

hey all, Bit of advice needed? The Mrs & I have had some major alterations done to our house and are now in the process of tackling the living room and having the current gas fire in the living room altered. Currently we have an old fashioned gas fire with a brick surround in front of the...

I've just about finished the building work before putting in another log burner. Where I had to remove plaster around the opening on the chimney breast face, I've used Hardwall leaving 2-3mm for the final top coat of multi finish (see pic). I'm worried however, that the multi finish will crack...

Hi there, I'm trying to fit an old cast iron fireplace in my Victorian house. So far, I have replaced the builder's arch with a concrete lintel (the floor level is apparently a few inches higher now than when the house was built, so I needed a few extra inches for the insert. I've also removed...

Hi I have a very old cast iron fireplace and had the chimney cleaned recently .At the top of fire bricks there is a iron plate and behind that the sweep removed a few old corrupted fire bricks. I now need to replace these firebricks but the sweep left the iron plate flat against the rear wall...

We have opened up a fireplace to install a woodburning stove (hasn't everyone...), which exposed the original supporting brick arch above the builders opening. We don't want the exposed brick but we do want to retain the curvature of the arch. I want to plaster over it but I'm struggling to...

I'm prepping the fireplace in our front room for a new log burning stove. All of the brickwork/mortar is sound but I want to cover in 12mm concrete board (HardieBacker), as this is what I've been advised to do by the local authorities. First of all, is this gap necessary? No problem at all if...

Hi, I'm looking to remove my fireplace but currently cant see a lintel. Should i remove more plaster to see if there is a lintel? Or am i able to remove the fire back first, as seen in the photo. Any advice would be great.

Hi We have a bronze fireplace - it was custom made in bronze with an ornamental open gas flame fire inside (all looks great, but not very good at heating). Anyway, I think rain water has dripped down the chimney and splashed over the bronze box that forms the fireplace. There are small green...

Before we bought our new place we were renting. We had asked the landlord permission to drill above the fireplace to hang a mirror; it was his old house and we were on good terms with him so no problem. Well, that's what I thought. Measured up where we needed to put the two screws. It was a...

Plug on fire by Pinkbear154 posted 31 May 2017 at 1:26 AMi wondering if any one can help me. We have just bought a electric fireplace and surround for our living room. We were planning on hard wiring it as we have a switched fused spur for fire on wall. We have just unpack fireplace and am a...

Hello everyone, I am planning to start using an old fireplace and I am a little worried that the mortar lining around the chimney and on the back wall could contain asbestos. It is fairly brittle and it didn't take very much for a piece of the lining to come off unintentionally when I was...

Hi all, I found a good guide on how to block-up and un-used fire place here http://www.practicaldiy.com/general-building/chimney/chimney-blocking-up.php to start with. However my job has one more complication being I need to install a TV bracket and a heavy shelf on the newly constructed fire...

I'd like to convert the fireplace into a tall craft cupboard, I might even make it look secret. Does anybody know if there is a limit to the maximum height I can install a lintel in the chimney breast? Thanks in advance.

Hi guys and gals, We moved into a property last May, and on the first day we saw a damp patch that had pulled the plaster away from the wall on the chimney breast in an upstairs bedroom. The wall seemed dry and there were signs of repair so we had the room full plastered and a damp sealant...

I am opening up a fireplace that had been bricked up. It's a 1964 house. Stupid question, but have I excavated the fireplace enough? I'm not sure if I have got to the base, and also it seems very shallow - it is only 13cm deep. Is that possible, or is there more cement to be removed? Please see...

We have an old fireplace which has been plasterboarded and plastered over. In front of this we have a wood burning stove, with a pipe which goes up to the original chimney in the roof. (outside the wall up until the chimney in the attic). The plaster behind the stove is cracking. From tapping...

Hi, We're currently renovating a victorian terraced house. We've just knocked a hole into our chimney breast in our living room- expecting a nice square shaped chimney inside. It looks deeper and squared off on the left hand side and seems to be less deep towards the right, like the back wall...

I've just started to renovate my new house. We have a large fireplace which currently houses an oil burning stove, and had the idea of removing the plaster and wooden surround to expose the brick. On getting rid of the plaster we were a little surprised to find a stone fireplace under there (see...

Hello, Im making our builders opening smaller in order to install a gas fireplace, by installing a steel lintel (as concrete will crack) and bricking up the hole above. However Im confused about what mortar to use! The DIY store sold me a bag of "Natural Mortar" which apparently contains lime...