Cracks appearing inside fire place

toni_

Hiya, really hope someone can help. We've recently moved into our cottage and have been having open fires, but recently lots of cracks have been appearing inside the fire place, and spreading really quickly, i dont know what we should do about it. My partners bought some heat resistant cement which we did use to fill one crack but since then quite a few more have appeared. I love having an open fire but dont want to use it anymore because of this, any ideas guys? many thanks

gmgmgm

How deep are the cracks? Are they just in the fireplace? Has the fireplace been used lots before? How far is the fire/flame from the wall, and what kind of wood are you burning?

toni_

hey, most of the cracks dont seem the be deep, however one crack seems to be widening & travelling up the chimney, as we have just moved into the cottage we dont know how often it was used, however evidence points to it being rarely used, the wood we use is seasoned softwood

olias

Has it been plastered inside and is it this that is cracking? Or is it brick lined, and are the cracks through the mortar joints or through the face of the bricks themselves?

Olias