Granite fire back piece help!

jaspercat2002

Hi

We had an open fire with a horrible brick surround in our lounge. We took off the bricks and had the chimney breast plastered and after asking for advice on here thought we would be ok to fit a new surround ourselves as the actual fireplace and chimney are fine.

So we ordered a granite hearth and back piece suitable for solid fuel fires and a stone surround and the seller told us on the phone it would all fit together fine. My husband is quite a competent DIYer I think.

Anyway when we came to fit it the back piece is in 3 pieces but then has cement behind it holding it all together. On the back of the cement part there are brackets fitted which we thought were for fixing it to the wall.
However the cement part means the backpiece come way too far out from the wall and would therefore leave a gap between the wall and the surround. My husband rang the supplier who said it needed to be recessed into the wall and then refused to give anymore information as he said we shouldn't be fitting it ourselves.

We have a guy coming out to have a look and give us a quote next week but still can't really see how it can be recessed? Is this what is normally done? The cement part is thicker than the plaster on the wall.

Any ideas would be gratefully recieved

Zoe

trogg

Hi jaspercat.

Did you buy the surround off them at the same time ?

The inner part of the surround should have a recess of about 25mm, (place it up against the wall and measure it) if It only has a recess of about 8-10mm the surround is designed for a laminate back.

Is the surround made of wood ?

jaspercat2002

Hi

Thanks for reply, The surround has a 25 mm recess, which is about the thickness of the granite on the back piece. The total depth of the back piece with the cement backing is 65 mm though. So according to the supplier we need to recess it 40mm into the chimney breast? From the info on the website we didn't expect it to have so much cement backing.

We bought all the stuff at the same time - surround, hearth and back piece and were originally told would all fit together fine.

Have put links to what we have purchased below

Thanks again

Surround :
http://www.direct-fireplaces.com/p/353672/gallery-fireplaces-henlow-agean-limestone-fireplace-.html

Back panel:
http://www.direct-fireplaces.com/p/556379/black-granite-back-panel-for-solid-fuel.html

Hearth:
http://www.direct-fireplaces.com/p/559663/slabbed-black-granite-hearth-54---18-for-solid-fuel.html

trogg

Hi again,

Could you tell me why you have 40mm of cement behind the back pannel,

Normally you would have a thin layer of bonding plaster (or simular).

is the cement bonded to the back pannel/s ?

ta

adaze

Something doesn't sound right, but we will be fitting backpanel, surround etc.. soon, so hopeully I'll pick up some tips. I thought the back panel simply fitted into a recess in the surround? Obviously it can't do if there is an extra 40mm on the backpanel, I wonder if this is standard, or maybe you need a surround with a deeper recess.

keyo

Couple of reasons for that size rebate, Real Fire bringing granite further away from the wall, 2 you want to fit a deeper gas fire. (thick bedding become part of your chimney)

Some fireplaces you just bed the granite to the wall and this then leaves a gap/rebate that you can slide more slips into .

That site you put up with the pics sent me the wrong colour first time, wrong brackets second time, and are as much use for information as a chocolate teapot

That site the pictures you put the pics up with, first they sent me wrong colour fireplace next one wrong brackets , they dont seem keen on giving any advice.

Still trying to find a white bonding plaster or something to fix my fireback to the wall (three pieces), its limestone , so if anyone has some advice would be appreciated

sooz

keyo wrote: »

Couple of reasons for that size rebate, Real Fire bringing granite further away from the wall, 2 you want to fit a deeper gas fire. (thick bedding become part of your chimney)

Some fireplaces you just bed the granite to the wall and this then leaves a gap/rebate that you can slide more slips into .

That site you put up with the pics sent me the wrong colour first time, wrong brackets second time, and are as much use for information as a chocolate teapot

That site the pictures you put the pics up with, first they sent me wrong colour fireplace next one wrong brackets , they dont seem keen on giving any advice.

I agree. I called to check our fireplace was in stock. It was, so I ordered, to find it was not in stock. It held my builders up waiting for the thing to arrive, & event hen the first one was broken.

Still trying to find a white bonding plaster or something to fix my fireback to the wall (three pieces), its limestone , so if anyone has some advice would be appreciated

I finally got some info out of another supplier of the same fireplace, who said to fix the limestone ones with strong white tile adhesive, as well as the brackets.