Hi,
We have a 1930s semi-detached house that used to have a back-boiler/gas fire in the living room fireplace. This has now been removed (in favour of a new combi located in another room), we are now looking at what's left.
Looking directly inside the chimney breast I can now see dark brickwork of the adoining wall (straight ahead, obviously). Inside and to the left I can see what looks like newer red (and far messier) brickwork, to the right I can see the same red brickwork. If I then get inside the chimney breast with my back to the adjoining wall (ie facing back into the living room) I can see more dark brickwork above the gap where the opening where the old fire used to be (ie the same brickwork as the adjoining wall). Hope this makes sense so far.
Now, looking at the red brickwork on the right (as you look into the chimney breast), I can see some of this brickwork is missing and in the gap I can see more dark brickwork behind it (same type as the adjoining wall again). This is the wall that the gas pipe comes through.
My guess here, and I'm hoping someone can validate this is that the dark brickwork is the original house brickwork and the red brick has been added since - probably when the local authority replaced the original fireplace with back boiler we have just ripped out. If I'm right on this, then second point I'm hoping to have validated is whether we should (in theory) be able to remove the red brickwork without affecting the stability of the chimney breast.
I don't want to worry anyone, I'm not about to start knocking bricks out yet, I'm just trying to get an idea of what we now have.
Shaun.
We have a 1930s semi-detached house that used to have a back-boiler/gas fire in the living room fireplace. This has now been removed (in favour of a new combi located in another room), we are now looking at what's left.
Looking directly inside the chimney breast I can now see dark brickwork of the adoining wall (straight ahead, obviously). Inside and to the left I can see what looks like newer red (and far messier) brickwork, to the right I can see the same red brickwork. If I then get inside the chimney breast with my back to the adjoining wall (ie facing back into the living room) I can see more dark brickwork above the gap where the opening where the old fire used to be (ie the same brickwork as the adjoining wall). Hope this makes sense so far.
Now, looking at the red brickwork on the right (as you look into the chimney breast), I can see some of this brickwork is missing and in the gap I can see more dark brickwork behind it (same type as the adjoining wall again). This is the wall that the gas pipe comes through.
My guess here, and I'm hoping someone can validate this is that the dark brickwork is the original house brickwork and the red brick has been added since - probably when the local authority replaced the original fireplace with back boiler we have just ripped out. If I'm right on this, then second point I'm hoping to have validated is whether we should (in theory) be able to remove the red brickwork without affecting the stability of the chimney breast.
I don't want to worry anyone, I'm not about to start knocking bricks out yet, I'm just trying to get an idea of what we now have.
Shaun.
