Hey everyone,
We are currently renovating our 3 bed Victorian terraced house in London and are about to replace the fireplaces. There were 3 old 1970s fireplaces (lovely brown tiled things!) which we have now removed. We have had all of the chimneys swept and got the certificates and they are in good condition ready for solid fuel fires to be installed. My builder was going to do this himself but I did not realise until recently that you either need a HETAS registered installer (which he is not) or building regs consent to install fireplaces. The guy who swept the chimney said that a lot of people don't bother with this but i would rather get it all done legally (specially as it's to do with fires).
As a result my questions are as follows:
1) How much of the install has to be done by a HETAS installer? Presumably we can prepare the fireplaces, ensure the opening is exactly the right size etc (currently it's too large) and he can just come in and place the hearth and the insert/mantle which i'm guessing would be a very easy/quick/cheap (!) job?
2) We have wooden floors with constructional hearths already built in. The constructional hearths are the following sizes:
Fireplace 1: Constructional Hearth: 1100mm (width) x 425mm (depth) / Chamber: 559mm (width) x 719mm (height) / Proposed Hearth: 1370mm x 460mm
Fireplace 2: Constructional Hearth: 910mm (width) x 425mm (depth) / Chamber: 559mm (width) x 719mm (height) / Proposed Hearth: 1230mm x 460mm
Fireplace 3: Constructional Hearth: 950mm (width) x 410mm (depth) / Chamber: 559mm (width) x 719mm (height) / Proposed Hearth: 1230mm x 460mm
And we are looking at the following fireplaces:
1 x http://www.victorianfireplaces.com/crown-thornton-fireplace.html (fireplace 1)
2 x http://www.victorianfireplaces.com/pembroke-black-cast-iron-fireplace.html (fireplaces 2 & 3)
My question is does it comply with building regs to place the decorative hearths on top of the constructional hearths, as they are larger they will overlap the constructional hearths and the edges will sit above the surrounding wooden boards? From what i have read (eg http://www.stovesonline.co.uk/stove-hearth-size.html ) as long as the constructional hearth extends at least 150mm either side and 300mm in front then I think this is okay but I just wanted to make sure! I have included an example picture of one of the constructional hearths so you can see what they are like.
Thanks so much for any advice anyone can give!
Dave
We are currently renovating our 3 bed Victorian terraced house in London and are about to replace the fireplaces. There were 3 old 1970s fireplaces (lovely brown tiled things!) which we have now removed. We have had all of the chimneys swept and got the certificates and they are in good condition ready for solid fuel fires to be installed. My builder was going to do this himself but I did not realise until recently that you either need a HETAS registered installer (which he is not) or building regs consent to install fireplaces. The guy who swept the chimney said that a lot of people don't bother with this but i would rather get it all done legally (specially as it's to do with fires).
As a result my questions are as follows:
1) How much of the install has to be done by a HETAS installer? Presumably we can prepare the fireplaces, ensure the opening is exactly the right size etc (currently it's too large) and he can just come in and place the hearth and the insert/mantle which i'm guessing would be a very easy/quick/cheap (!) job?
2) We have wooden floors with constructional hearths already built in. The constructional hearths are the following sizes:
Fireplace 1: Constructional Hearth: 1100mm (width) x 425mm (depth) / Chamber: 559mm (width) x 719mm (height) / Proposed Hearth: 1370mm x 460mm
Fireplace 2: Constructional Hearth: 910mm (width) x 425mm (depth) / Chamber: 559mm (width) x 719mm (height) / Proposed Hearth: 1230mm x 460mm
Fireplace 3: Constructional Hearth: 950mm (width) x 410mm (depth) / Chamber: 559mm (width) x 719mm (height) / Proposed Hearth: 1230mm x 460mm
And we are looking at the following fireplaces:
1 x http://www.victorianfireplaces.com/crown-thornton-fireplace.html (fireplace 1)
2 x http://www.victorianfireplaces.com/pembroke-black-cast-iron-fireplace.html (fireplaces 2 & 3)
My question is does it comply with building regs to place the decorative hearths on top of the constructional hearths, as they are larger they will overlap the constructional hearths and the edges will sit above the surrounding wooden boards? From what i have read (eg http://www.stovesonline.co.uk/stove-hearth-size.html ) as long as the constructional hearth extends at least 150mm either side and 300mm in front then I think this is okay but I just wanted to make sure! I have included an example picture of one of the constructional hearths so you can see what they are like.
Thanks so much for any advice anyone can give!
Dave
Thanks for your help, Dave
