Fire place opening re-furb - is this right?!

Soph1988

Hi there,

We have just purchased a house with a hole (I have no idea what it’s called!) that within sits an old cast iron wood burner that we will be replacing in the coming months. The surround for the wood burner is shoddy, with the previous owner building a hearth from wood and tiles, and the inside is badly tiled.

We want the cast iron wood burner taken out, the fireplace opened up (it’s currently about 3” shorter each side as he has made a flat surface for tiles to sit on out of wood), fire boarded and a new hearth fitted so it isn’t ready to instal a new wood burner at a later date.

Someone has quoted is £420 on the condition we supply the hearth.

This sounds extortionate for what needs to be done - can anyone advise if this sounds right? I’m not sure how to post a URL to the picture so if anyone can let me know how I can get this up!

Davesnave

https://imgbb.com/

and paste their code into your post.

Frankly, it isn't clear from what you have written what you want to do beyond opening the fireplace up. It would be better like this:

1. Disconnect existing stove and remove

2. Remove tiles and wooden frame work

3. Break out opening by Xcm, make good and dispose of rubble...or is it just the tiles and wood frame?

4 ....not sure what comes next, but pretty sure it will involve 2 visits over 2 days. What finish do you want after the hole has been made good?

Soph1988

https://ibb.co/i5QSaS

Here you go. It’s easier to show in pictures!

Soph1988

We basically want it so it!!!8217;s a clean square with nice hearth sat in it ready for us to put a wood burning stove in a couple of month...!

Soph1988

https://goo.gl/images/UnuHzD

Looking like this basically...

Ruski

Doesn't sound unreasonable if I'm honest. Do you know if there's a flue in the chimney at all which will have to be taken out??


Russ

Soph1988

There is a flue in the chimney but he said nothing about taking it out....

FreeBear

Soph1988 wrote: »

The surround for the wood burner is shoddy, with the previous owner building a hearth from wood and tiles, and the inside is badly tiled.

We want the cast iron wood burner taken out, the fireplace opened up (it’s currently about 3” shorter each side as he has made a flat surface for tiles to sit on out of wood), fire boarded and a new hearth fitted so it isn’t ready to instal a new wood burner at a later date.

Shoddy is a bit of an understatement - Wood that close to a stove is a fire risk, and I'd be surprised if the work has been signed off with building control.

Depending on construction of the house, it may be possible to open up the hole a little bit more if you want the extra space - The brickwork either side of my fireplace is ~200mm thick and the remaining ~250mm each side of the stove is fairly easy to remove. I would imagine your fireplace would be similar, although I would question the lintel based on the quality of the existing work.

£420 to remove & open up the hole doesn't sound too bad, although I'd be tempted to anticipate a bit more if there are any horrors hidden behind the plaster. You may also want to budget for a new liner (around £500) when you eventually fit a new stove.

Make sure that any new plaster in the opening will withstand high temperatures - This will rule out plasterboard and off the shelf gypsum plaster which will crack & flake off as soon as you start using a fire.

Davesnave

When we opened up our fireplace, our stove company had a galvanised box made to fit inside. This was then painted the colour we wanted, and when the fire was installed, it took the connection to the flue.



We used cement board instead of plasterboard for the chimney breast.

Two years on there's only been a marginal amount of paint discolouration at the back of the metal box and no cracking on the chimney breast. The previous plastering was considerably cracked by the old stove we removed.

Ozzuk

As above, the price doesn't sound bad but you want to be really clear on what they are doing for you and if it will be fit for your end purpose. If you are little bit handy you could likely remove what is there yourself to reduce cost - just check there is a lintel, I've known a situation where there wasn't one and the chimney breast collapsed, luckily in just one room.

If you do clear it up first, any quotes will be more accurate because nothing will be hidden.

FreeBear

Ozzuk wrote: »

- just check there is a lintel, I've known a situation where there wasn't one and the chimney breast collapsed

Or if it is like mine, there will be a brick arch - I gave mine a little poke, and half the bricks fell out :eek:
Very quickly got a concrete lintel put in before the rest of it collapsed on me.