Hi, I'm just looking for some general advice, much like a lot of the posts I've read on this forum.
We have removed an old gas fire from one of our living rooms with the intention of plasterboarding the recess (builder's opening) and making a feature of this, with shelving for a DVD player, XBOX etc. I intend to wall-mount our LCD TV on the chimney breast above the recess.
When we removed the fire and surround, we found that the opening isn't quite as open as I'd have liked! Basically, there seems to be a lot of brick infill where I expected there to be a big hole. I've done some poking around with a mirror inside and it looks as though there is a brick archway ('soldiers') about a foot higher than the exposed opening, with a metal bar providing support underneath this arch.
I'd like to remove the brick infill to create a rectangular opening, and it looks to my eye like this should be fine as I can't imagine it's providing any kind of support to the surrounding chimney breast, but have provided some pictures here in case anyone has any words of advice?
Thanks in advance.
Matt
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We have removed an old gas fire from one of our living rooms with the intention of plasterboarding the recess (builder's opening) and making a feature of this, with shelving for a DVD player, XBOX etc. I intend to wall-mount our LCD TV on the chimney breast above the recess.
When we removed the fire and surround, we found that the opening isn't quite as open as I'd have liked! Basically, there seems to be a lot of brick infill where I expected there to be a big hole. I've done some poking around with a mirror inside and it looks as though there is a brick archway ('soldiers') about a foot higher than the exposed opening, with a metal bar providing support underneath this arch.
I'd like to remove the brick infill to create a rectangular opening, and it looks to my eye like this should be fine as I can't imagine it's providing any kind of support to the surrounding chimney breast, but have provided some pictures here in case anyone has any words of advice?
Thanks in advance.
Matt
View media item 41717 View media item 41718 View media item 41719 View media item 41720
