fireplace installation

Ladyhawk

Hi everyone,

I recently bought and moved into a (one will be lovely) house. I had a chimney sweep round who said that my chimney was filthy as the lady who lived here before clearly used the soild fuel fire place a lot... except that clearly the fireplace was never installed properly an is just being held in place by the mantelpeice.

So now I need to install it... The actual fireplace is cast iron and the mantelpeice is wood. It will probably need to be backfilled and sealed.

How much should the cost and are there any qualifications etc that I should be looking for from my fitters? Finally does anyone know of any fitters in the North London area?

Thanks!

rustyboy21

If you had lived up North, I would have said about £250 to fit it.

But as you live in London, maybe treble that ! You need to seek a Hetas registered fitter, if you want it doing properly and to regs, if you want to stay with Solid fuel.

If you want to use it for Gas, which you can do if you want, Then seek out a Gas safe Reg installer

Ladyhawk

Thanks Rustyboy... I was expecting about £150 max!!

cyclonebri1

Ladyhawk wrote: »

Hi everyone,

I recently bought and moved into a (one will be lovely) house. I had a chimney sweep round who said that my chimney was filthy as the lady who lived here before clearly used the soild fuel fire place a lot... except that clearly the fireplace was never installed properly an is just being held in place by the mantelpeice.

So now I need to install it... The actual fireplace is cast iron and the mantelpeice is wood. It will probably need to be backfilled and sealed.

How much should the cost and are there any qualifications etc that I should be looking for from my fitters? Finally does anyone know of any fitters in the North London area?

Thanks!

To be honest most fireplaces are held back just like that, by their own weight plus a restraining bolt or two at cill/mantle level.

London price is 2 x "up north " figures sorry.

Oh, they are designed to be used, and quite a lot,

nubsj

I just had similar installed. I paid £500 though he had to build up either side of the hole and put a lintels across the top

He said the thermowhatsit used to backfill it was expensive

Apparently if its not backfilled soot will accumulate and eventually catch fire

cyclonebri1

nubsj wrote: »

I just had similar installed. I paid £500 though he had to build up either side of the hole and put a lintels across the top

He said the thermowhatsit used to backfill it was expensive

Apparently if its not backfilled soot will accumulate and eventually catch fire

Trades can cane me here but I thought the standard infill was a vermiculite cement mix?

Vermiculite is cheap, cement is cheaper.

And in answer to the last/latter bit, it will also be far more efficient if the fireproof insulation is in place and doing it's job,

£20 max for a fire hole. I think the installer exaggerated, and that's being polite.;);)

muckybutt

cyclonebri1 wrote: »

Trades can cane me here but I thought the standard infill was a vermiculite cement mix?

Vermiculite is cheap, cement is cheaper.

And in answer to the last/latter bit, it will also be far more efficient if the fireproof insulation is in place and doing it's job,

£20 max for a fire hole. I think the installer exaggerated, and that's being polite.;);)

You are indeed correct cyclonebri :T

Every so often I come across one where they have just been screwed back to the wall and left, no back fill etc so no way to get the soot out and one big fire risk just sitting there waiting to happen.

When you fit cast iron fire places it is imperative that the space behind the casting and the back of the chimney is completely backfilled with either a concrete vermiculite mix or cement vermiculite mix, when its filled level to the opening part of the casting you then need to chamfer the inside part to get the correct draught up the chimney, without the chamfer you create vortices which can push smoke back into the room.

Ladyhawk

Thanks so much for the advice - so would this be an hour or so job?

do they just mix up the cement/vermiculite, apply it and then seal the fireplace in?

muckybutt

Would probably take a couple of hours, the fire place will have to be fitted first then back filled with the casting in situe.

cyclonebri1

muckybutt wrote: »

You are indeed correct cyclonebri :T

Well there's the exception that proves the rule.;);)
I was only tentative in my reply as the last 1, and I only ever did 2 solid fuel boilers, was done about 30 years ago and that was the material used then.;)

Ladyhawk wrote: »

Thanks so much for the advice - so would this be an hour or so job?

do they just mix up the cement/vermiculite, apply it and then seal the fireplace in?

If I remember correctly the stuff is mixed and slightly wetted, but I can't remember the ratio verm to cem.

It needs to be as wet as the sand you would need to build a sand castle, then it simply pushed into all voids and due to the wet the stuff holds in place and the cement is activated.

Incidentally I removed the boiler 10 years late when it went gas.
The stuff was always called vermiculite concrete, but it was easily removable with a trowel and scraper.