Widening a chimney breast

[Voogy]

Hi,

I have had a builder round to widen my chimney breast in preparation for a woodburner.

He said no probs but made no mention of a structural certificate etc.

I've been checking online and seems this is serious job!!

Does this builder sound like he knows what he's doing???

Thanks


This the breast currently:-

 

[big-all]

he needs to be hetas registered
or you do it via building control
usually a hetsa engineer will be cheaper
have you discussed the liner for the flue it has to be class one

 

[Voogy]

ahhh so he's not a good choice then lol ... cheers big-all

 

[r896neo]

Whoa not so fast, you need to be hetas registered to fit the stove not do the building work. If he does indeed intent to fit the stove then big all's advice applies.

As for the simply widening the opening by the looks of your current brest the job is pretty straight-forward for a builder.

Where did you hear about this Structural certificate?

 

[Voogy]

Whoa not so fast, you need to be hetas registered to fit the stove not do the building work. If he does indeed intent to fit the stove then big all's advice applies.

As for the simply widening the opening by the looks of your current brest the job is pretty straight-forward for a builder.

Where did you hear about this Structural certificate?

I read somewhere that a certificate is required as it's a structural alteration?

Obviously not sure hence posting here.

He is not fitting the burner only widening the breast up.

Cheers

 

[Voogy]

Chimney widened now. The builder has lined the hole with plasterboard and skimmed which I expected. However what I didn't expect is them to have boarded the top too. Surely a metal register plate has to go there?

I asked the builder about this and he says the fitter just cuts a hole. The register plate only needs to be non-combustible and doesn't have to be metal?

Even if the builder is correct how does anyone now inspect my chimney to check if it needs lining etc???

Maybe I'm just being daft but I expected him to simply leave the top open as he knew I was planning on having a wood burner fitted?

 

[r896neo]

Lining with plasterboard and skimming may fail as the heat from a stove could crack the plaster.

Ideally it should have been sand and cement rendered.

As for the top its not a big deal, it will take mintues to rip out a bit of plasterboard

 

[Voogy]

Lining with plasterboard and skimming may fail as the heat from a stove could crack the plaster.

Ideally it should have been sand and cement rendered.

As for the top its not a big deal, it will take mintues to rip out a bit of plasterboard

Can I sand and cement render over the plaster???

 

[Voogy]

Or how about if I tile the aperture?

 

[r896neo]

you can;t render over the skim. Tiling might help.

Speak to your stove installer he'll be able to tell you whether the boarding and skim will do?