Opening fireplace

[gme106]

Hi everyone. Have got a little question. I had my fireplace removed about 2 yrs ago and the opening bricked up. Now however in the wife's infinate wisdom she now wants this reopened and a small gas fire installed. My question is if I remove some of the bricks will I need to support the remaining bricks above


Thanks

 

[robmorphet]

if they left the lintel in, no ( & chances are they would have)

It could only be a small steel bar 3'x3"x0.5" or it could be a huge great monster depending on the weight its carrying. In my Bungalow conversion the lintel was tiny as it only supported the bricks to ceiling height - in fact if you went in to the loft you'd see that the livingroom ceiling was plaster boarded before the chimney was bulit!

 

[gme106]

Think they did leave it in but i'm not totaly sure as there was a solid fuel closed front fire in the chimney and when they took it out it left a massive hole. They didn't support the hole with anything while it was bricked up so i'm assuming it was left in.

Just one other thing rob, how would you suggest I remove the blocks. I was thinking of hiring a grinder and just cutting away the required hole. Would this be Ok

 

[robmorphet]

you better check to see if the wall is supported first - last thing you need is the opportunity to grace the "DIY Disasters" pages!!

The bricks won't be keyed in to the existing hole so any strikes will loosen the surrounding (new) wall, leaving the existing fireplace bricks relatively untouched. A bolster and lump hammer should be enough.

I would remove all the new bricks, use 4, or 6 wall ties (screwfix sell them) and re-brick up to the correct new fire size.

Have you checked your chimney is the right class and suitable for the new fire your installing? check out www.flues.co.uk for tech specs etc.

 

[masona]

I'm assuming the opening is re-plaster,if so chop out plaster where you think the middle of the opening is and work your way up.You should see new brickwork against old brickwork then remove a top layer brick off or carry on chopping out the plaster left & right and see if you can see the lintel.If the brickwork have a slight curve this will also be your lintel.