Afternoon all,
After having my gas fire removed, I have uncovered my old small open fireplace with tiled hearth and walls etc. I would like to enlarge the opening to accomodate a wood burner. The house is a 3 bed victorian mid-terrace build circa 1890 and has the two chimney breasts in the main part of the house that serve both downstairs rooms and two of the bedrooms so each breast has one flue on each side when it gets upstairs. I have read that there are sometimes no lintels in the older properties. I am not quite ready to make a mess yet and take out the old fire back, but thought i'd do some research first. From what I can gather, if there is no lintel, or it is not wide enough, i can insert a lintel into the breast and remove the lower bricks PROVIDING I install the lintel lower than where the flue gather bricks interlock with the breast. Is there anything else I should consider? I plan on leaving plenty of bricks each side to support the lintel (probably over 1 foot each side). Any advice or thought's would be welcomed.
Many Thanks,
Dave
After having my gas fire removed, I have uncovered my old small open fireplace with tiled hearth and walls etc. I would like to enlarge the opening to accomodate a wood burner. The house is a 3 bed victorian mid-terrace build circa 1890 and has the two chimney breasts in the main part of the house that serve both downstairs rooms and two of the bedrooms so each breast has one flue on each side when it gets upstairs. I have read that there are sometimes no lintels in the older properties. I am not quite ready to make a mess yet and take out the old fire back, but thought i'd do some research first. From what I can gather, if there is no lintel, or it is not wide enough, i can insert a lintel into the breast and remove the lower bricks PROVIDING I install the lintel lower than where the flue gather bricks interlock with the breast. Is there anything else I should consider? I plan on leaving plenty of bricks each side to support the lintel (probably over 1 foot each side). Any advice or thought's would be welcomed.
Many Thanks,
Dave
