Hi
Decided to use a stove supplier who offered complete job, ie could supply and fit. I had already removed the existing fireplace.
Supplier ‘s fitters removed brickwork to full width of builders opening, they also fitted new lintel, raising it by one course of bricks.
The problems started on the second day when it was a long succession of “near enough is good enough”. I complained to the manager of the company but his response was a rant that I was judging an unfinished job, and he could not tolerate someone looking at each aspect of the job prior to completion. The inevitable result was a cancellation.
So I am now left with an unfinished job. My intention is to finish off the chimney breast and fire opening myself, but then call in a Hetas fitter who will install the gas stove and flue liner. Essentially I am left with a chimney breast that has had non-Gysum boards (maybe Glasroc, but can’t be sure, they are white and seem to have a fibrous reinforcement) fitted each side, and above, the fire opening. The fire opening itself is pretty clean red brick, but the quality of the brickwork is not good enough to be left exposed.
I am quite capable of a good plastering job so I feel confident that I can plaster skim the chimney breast, and then render the fire opening. I was proposing to use two coats of 4:1:1 lime render in the actual fire opening.
The question is: can I use beads around the fire opening itself. I propose to use skim beads on the corners of the chimney breast where there will be a plaster skim, but would have used the mesh plaster beads at the fire opening, in fact using a stop bead under the lintel as I was not intending to render under there. I am somewhat worried that due to heat, whilst probably being far less with a gas stove as compared to a wood burner, the metal beads at those corners will expand/contract such that cracking will always be a problem.
Have considered boarding as a quicker fix, but cannot find any consensus in what boards/adhesive are suited to this application.
thanks and regards
Decided to use a stove supplier who offered complete job, ie could supply and fit. I had already removed the existing fireplace.
Supplier ‘s fitters removed brickwork to full width of builders opening, they also fitted new lintel, raising it by one course of bricks.
The problems started on the second day when it was a long succession of “near enough is good enough”. I complained to the manager of the company but his response was a rant that I was judging an unfinished job, and he could not tolerate someone looking at each aspect of the job prior to completion. The inevitable result was a cancellation.
So I am now left with an unfinished job. My intention is to finish off the chimney breast and fire opening myself, but then call in a Hetas fitter who will install the gas stove and flue liner. Essentially I am left with a chimney breast that has had non-Gysum boards (maybe Glasroc, but can’t be sure, they are white and seem to have a fibrous reinforcement) fitted each side, and above, the fire opening. The fire opening itself is pretty clean red brick, but the quality of the brickwork is not good enough to be left exposed.
I am quite capable of a good plastering job so I feel confident that I can plaster skim the chimney breast, and then render the fire opening. I was proposing to use two coats of 4:1:1 lime render in the actual fire opening.
The question is: can I use beads around the fire opening itself. I propose to use skim beads on the corners of the chimney breast where there will be a plaster skim, but would have used the mesh plaster beads at the fire opening, in fact using a stop bead under the lintel as I was not intending to render under there. I am somewhat worried that due to heat, whilst probably being far less with a gas stove as compared to a wood burner, the metal beads at those corners will expand/contract such that cracking will always be a problem.
Have considered boarding as a quicker fix, but cannot find any consensus in what boards/adhesive are suited to this application.
thanks and regards
