How to shave down brick please?

goingtothedogs

Hi guys

We are DIY newbies (slowly!) doing up our first flat. I've just bought a lovely old Victorian fireplace off eBay to replace the 80s horror story that was in there.

We've had the chimney swept, and are ready to bolt it in. But fireplace hole on the wall is slightly too small for the back of the new fireplace. So we need to work out how to shave down the bricks by a few inches. I think they are breeze blocks.

I was just hoping someone could give me some tips on how to do this and what tools we would need? (We are not actually going to use it for real fires as DH is asthmatic)

Thanks very much!

Ruski

Brick Bolster chisel and lump hammer - either that or send DH out for a day and use a diamond bladed angle grinder and clean up afterwards!!

HTH

Russ

DVardysShadow

Angle grinder and diamond wheel. See what you hire shop has to do the job. Usually worth a hire for a job like this.

doningtonphil

a few inches seems a bit ambitious. will this not risk removing support of lintel/brick arch? it may be that breeze blocks have been used to reduce the size of the original 'hole' in which case you would be OK but worth proceeding with caution

keystone

I would agree. Breeze can't possibly have been used if it's an original firehole that was supposed to be functioning with fire lit in it. Is it proper breeze or is it lightweight aerated block? If its the lightweight aerated stuff you can cut it with a saw so an angle grinder seems a bit OTT.

In any event I'd be very wary about using an angle grinder in a confined space such as a fire hole if you are inexperienced with it unless you just want to trim back a few inches into the hole all around the opening.

Cheers

vaio

it doesn't need to be neat so I'd go for the hammer & bolster too

also, you wouldn't believe the amount of dust an angle grinder can create

cyclonebri1

Agree, whatever you do don't use the angle grinder, you'll be chewing on grit and dust for months.
Oh and don't do what a workmate did when expanding his firplace opening. Put it this way, I don't think inter neighbour serving hatches are in vogue at present, :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

ic

As mentioned above, how many inches are "a few inches" - remove too many and you'll lose support for the lintel that is holding up the wall above the hole.

goingtothedogs

Thanks for all the feedback – very helpful. I'm leaning towards the hammer and bolster.

The gap is four inches either side and two inches higher. The ones either side are definitely breeze block, so can maybe be sawed down. The original fireplace gap was made smaller to fit the 80s thing.

The bit above is maybe real brick I think. This is the bit I'm slightly concerned about – don't really fancy an 'inter neighbour serving hatch'! I guess you don't need to take out a whole brick at a time, you can just chip a bit off?!

ic

So you want to widen the hole by eight inches, and increase the height by two inches? You won't be able to just chop away at the lintel, and if widening by that amount could unseat the lintel altogether - which is supporting the brick work above the hole. How old is the building? As mentioned above has breeze block been used to reduce the size of the original opening? If that is the case there might be another lintel above. Can you post photos?

Mr_Ted

If you are going to use it for any sort of fire you have to consider the safety aspects of heat or maybe fumes?

If its purely decorative then you should also make sure that in the future it is obvious that it is not safe for any form of heating use?