Open fire place re-opened

arroli

We are renovating a stone cottage, and uncovered the fireplace that has previously been used for coal fire. The previous owners had installed gas fire, which has now been removed...

My Question - if we wish to revert back to open coal fire (not smokeless zone) do we need to use Hetas installer or to apply for building regs to do this?

We will of course have the chimney tested, the gas pipe relocated and a new chimney pot to replace the gas cowl fitted

muckybutt

Provided you are'nt putting a stove or an inset fire in and the chimney is in good order then you wont need anything signing off by the council , and no need for a hetas fitter.

Get yourself a good sweep who will be able to tell you what kind of shape the chimney is in, it'll need a good sweep before anything is done and then do a capped off smoke test to check for leaks. Providing theres no smoke leaks then you are good to go.

If you do have smoke leaks then you will have to go down the route of relining the chimney either by thermal concrete or if you can a new pumice / clay liner, there are companies out there that do relining work. The other alternative would be a wood burning stove with a liner fitted, that would require hetas or council signing off the work