Apparently the chimney has been blocked off...

The flue picture is from the ground floor, taken by pointing my phone in selfie mode upwards. There's no access to the flue from the first floor - the walls are wallpapered and we have no intention of disturbing this room at the moment.

Hopefully, the last picture shows things a little cleaner? I think my post and your reply crossed. ;)

Our plan is to get a new herringbone effect brick chamber - what's there I doubt could be cleaned up enough. The whole breast will be replastered so we don't need anything that is currently exposed to remain visible - we are planning on mounting a fake oak lintel before the plastering so it can have the appearance of being recessed.

In terms of the damp...yeah. We noticed. The wall is around 2 foot granite block and we think there may be rising damp in this room. Certainly, there's a wall opposite - internal - with damp patches so we are going to get that looked into. But also the previous owners had a history of plastering onto the blockwork and leaving no air gap. However a previous survey said everything was ok, we just needed to use damp proofed paint etc as there was condensation buildup on some external walls. The walls you can see in the pictures have all been exposed to the wallpaper removal. And there is a lot of patched up plaster work in our house - in some cases plaster over wallpaper. :mad:

We have 3 visible chimney breasts in the house, but only two chimneys. I have found evidence of a 4th although that is long gone, with only hearth tiles to indicate the history. all 3 have upstairs breasts also but have been closed off. I have another post looking at the remains of one of these and dealign with refitting a floor. This room is the one I'm filling my time with before the replacement floorboards come form the timber merchants next week.
 
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Oh forgot to mention! We're planning on a reclaimed yorkstone for the hearth. We're resigned to killing the carpet so would probably rip the current boards up - maybe even concrete underneath / insulate but as I mentioned, this room is getting expensive! We know there is ventilation in another room - you can feel the air below the carpet some days but not in this room. This could be what's contributing to the damp and it's only typing this that I've put 2+2 together...where an airbrick may have been there is now a conservatory.

We will need to pop some floorboards and have a look underneath I think... especially before fitting new flooring!
 
When installing an appliance such as a burner we sweep, smoke test, and often camera. We often go under the floor, visit next door and always go on the roof
 
So now my question is do I tackle the lintel myself? We have a quote to fit the new fire and it's mounting up. £120.00 for the lintel? Then there's the need for a constructional hearth. I found this great thread which set me up nicely - not sure if I need to notify a building control body?

I'll pick up a lintel this week and get it done over the weekend.
 
I'm toying with the idea of getting a readymix but knowing I have to get to 250mm deep - I need a fair bit. We have yet to find the raised hearth so know that the 250mm will be reduced but understand the total thickness needs to be 250mm. The floor is suspended generally in the room but at present, the previous hearth sits over earth and stone.
 
Got the lintel in yesterday. I think it went ok! I seemed to take longer mixing the bloody mortar than fitting it... It will always look a bloody mess with the black mortar knocking about and I am not sure how crazy I want to go with repointing. As full-length bricks needed to come out I didn't bother cutting the lintel down and trimmed two new bricks to plug the now smaller gap on each end.

I ran out of mortar before I could pack the layer of bricks above it so will get that done today. What's bothering me is size of the gap and my inability to get mortar in - think I need a smaller trowel although I have seen mortar in a tube in toolstation. When I shine a light behind the gap you can see the curvature issue:


And I have an annoying voice in the back of my head saying "break that row of red bricks out and re-lay them". One of the lower red bricks in the centre is slightly wobbly and you can see my attempts to drill the plaster off were not that successful - I wanted to get the lintel in before going nuts with my SDS. A couple may need replacing although what are the rules on reusing bricks? Obviously, if they aren't structurally sound then chuck them.
 
I'm sure you mean slates ;) you literally knock them in tight ie. until they break at the face, then keep going until the bits you have left are too small. Then point up as 2vc said, and point round the back too. Nothing will shift it then
 

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