I wanna knock a hole in my chimney breast to make a fireplace...

singlehouseholder

I have a back boiler. I want to see if I can make a nice fireplace in my bedroom- I imagine that there used to be a fireplace in the room as my house is a very old style terrace built in 1909.
On the other hand I dont want to start braying great big holes in walls if i'm going to have to end up patching and plastering it back up. Any way of checking to see whats underneath- or any advice on how to put a "fireplace" hole in the wall.
I know you're all very knowledgable- and will help, so thank you in advance you lovely people!!
:j

Pink.

Hi singlehouseholder,

I have moved your thread over to the In My Home board where you should get more replies.

Pink

nelly_2

As a plasterer.

Messing about with walls of this age will 99% of the time bring the plaster off.

Also is the backboiler under this chimney would putting a fire in interfere with a flue it may have (hopefully a plumber will come on thread and clear that up)

Im thinking put a 42 inch plasma tv there instead playing a dvd of a nice big fire

probably be cheaper too

woodbutcher_2

May seem simple but have you tapped the wall to see if it sounds hollow.A lot of times in old houses they are simply boarded up.I found a cast iron fireplace in a previous house of mine behind some hardboard that had been papered over.

singlehouseholder

Haha, nice 1 Nelly, i've got the 42inch tv in the front room. If I had 1 in the bedroom i'd never get any peace! The boiler is under this fire breast. Not really wanting a fire that I canuse- just a feature, for show if you like. Have seen some cast iron ones that would look well nice.

tomstickland

I've just been doing a load of brickwork in my brother's house. The downstairs chimney moves over to one side and then the upstairs room also has a fireplace with its own chimney flue. So there could well be a bricked off fireplace under the plasterwork.

The only way to do it properly is to chip the plaster off and see what's underneath. As Nelly says, this will almost certainly cause loads of plaster to fall off. Just budget for having a plasterer in for a day or two to fix it up at the end.

singlehouseholder

ah, cheers Mr Stickland!! I had a tap of the breast- oo-er!! Yesterday and it seems like a dull tap in the middle and to the left, but it kinda sounds hollow to the right?? Please tell me the best tool for the job, what should I use to chip away and expose?? Even if its brick underneath, which it should be?? I may well leave it exposed as brick? Done this in my kitchen, makes a fab backdrop for my 5ring stainless steel cooker, and high gloss vanilla cupboards. I'm a house-hore, need change, get bored....just sometimes I start something then think why oh why....
Thanks again peeps.

woodbutcher_2

A hammer and bolster should do the trick.

singlehouseholder

get in, i like to bray things with a big hammer- i'll go easy though I think at first, tippytaptap. Dont think OH is impressed, I keep coming up with crazy ideas which probably end up costing lots of £ in the long run......

now, where's that pick axe!!!