Fireplace

[Athers]

Hello!

I live in 2 bedroomed terraced house built in the 1910's and I'm
looking to reinstall a fireplace that was once there.
When I had a survey on the house the surveyor reported
that there are 3 flues in the house (Living room, front bedroom, back bedroom?)
I'm hoping to install a gas fire in the living room and create just a
feature of the space created up stairs in the front bedroom.
The problem is that I don't know where to start or how much it's going
to cost!

I was planning to knock through the existing hard board that was used
to cover up the fire place in the living room but then where do I go from there? The fireplace up stairs has been bricked up!

I presume I'll need a builder to do all this for me?
Will i need a chimney sweep to then clean the flue?
Does the flue from downstairs affect the others in the house?

I'd appreciate any advice
Thanks for your time

 

[JerryM]

i am keen on doing it yourself but when it comes to fires it's a must to get a corgi man in 1st off. he will tell you what he needs to get the fire in and will save money in the long run. some corgi men will do all the work for you, others will tell you what needs doing and other will tell you to get a builder for the bits they don't do.

the work is all quite easy but not straight forward.

if you have 3 fireplaces then you have 3 individual flues and 3 chimney pots on the roof. the pot that matches your front living room needs to have a pot called a "gas chimney pot" they are metal and sit inside the existing straight pot. the fireplace that is not going to be used "feature" needs what's called china mans hat. it's a terracotta pot with holes and stops rain falling into the chimney.

sorting the brickwork in the chimney breasts is quite straightforward if you can brick lay, otherwise need builder. each breast will have some form of existing lintel or arch so no structural work is involved.

the flue to be used will need sweeping (corgi men are very particular but generally nice with it).

the flue downstairs does not affect the others. the corgi man will want to carry out a smoke test to check the integrity of the flue which is to be used. 99% are ok but if it fails then a stainless steel liner called copex will be needed and is expensive.

on costs it's difficult as it depends on how much work is involved in each particular case. the pots are expensive (say 70 for 2) and then need fitting. best to get some quotes and ideally a corgi man who will do all as a collective job even though he will get others to do some of the work. i think you will be looking at several hundred pounds.

 

[Athers]

Thanks for the reply
I appreciate it
Cheers,
Athers