Builder's opening in chimney

[pilsbury]

Wire brush and elbow grease it is then. I am kind of hoping to leave the bricks bare depending on how good they come up. Render is an option if they still look a mess. Been told 5:1:1 sand, hydrated lime, cement.

Vinn. That "mark" you can see on the wood panel is just a shadow of a token Christmas decoration hung over the top! Here's the proof with it removed!

 

[pilsbury]

To report back on soot cleaning.....

Wire brush = removes surface soot but leaves bricks black

Cif bathroom foam = removes some of the black staining but not much

Sand paper = WINNER! Hard graft but does the job.

What do you think? Leave as brick or render?

Also, before I lay quarry tiles in the hearth, I have to bring the height up a bit - not much, about half an inch. Can I just mix concrete for this? Cement and sharp sand or do I have to throw some lime in too? Could I put down a self levelling screed or would this not be good with the heat?

 

[vinn]

Leave it as brick dont alter anything.

Sandpaper is a new one - a sander might even produce better results but the down side is removing more face from the surface of already damaged brick. The protective patina of external bricks is rarely exposed to sanding.

Why is it necessary to raise the height of the hearth by 12mm? Simply spreading thick adhesive, and buttering the back of the tiles will lift the finished surface.

 

[pilsbury]

The idea of raising the hearth is partly to use less adhesive and partly to level to make tiling easier. Hence thinking about self levelling compound. 12mm is an average, there are some dips plenty deeper. It's all over the place really and I'm not the greatest tiler!

Glad you have voted to keep brick. I was inclined to do so as it is far less work. Should I seal the brick?

 

[vinn]

Dry fix your tile layout before doing anything else
Then use bagged powder adhesive, and first dub out (fill in obvious dents etc) and allow to dry after smoothing off.
And then, as I described above, set the tile.

Dont seal the brick, dont ever seal (aka glazing) any brick anywhere, it looks cheesy and usually fails after a while.

 

[pilsbury]

Advice appreciated.

 

[pilsbury]

Progress report: Got the opening pretty much sorted now. Stove comes tomorrow along with all the other bits and bobs but I'm going to have to wait till the end of the month to install as my chimney is too big to reach from a roof ladder. It's a total of just over 11m tall, 2.5m of which are above the roof. Got up there the other day to check it out and it was only then I realised how big the damn thing was - looks a lot smaller from the ground!

Got quotes for a scaffold tower and was gobsmacked they all came in around £350-400..... However, I've got a mate who knows a builder who will be hiring a 17m cherry picker platform who is going to lend it to me free of charge on the last weekend of this month. Being a skinflint, this is right up my street!

 

[Ian H]

That looks great!!! Well done

 

[Doggit]

Very nice Pilsbury, excellent job, but set up the stove now, so that when you drop the liner down, you've got everything in place. You won't be able to fit the closure plate with the liner hanging down, and you'll need the stove set up so that you can cut the liner to the right length. If you're being lent the cherry picker, you want to be able to do the job as quick as possible, and not ruin the favour.