Airbricks/ventelation in a fireplace.

evilgoose

I'm in the process of renovating a house; in the one room downstairs I'm intended to replace a badly damaged fireplace with a gas fire and in the other room to repair the open fire (which will then be used).

In the rooms above there are two boarded up fireplaces, I'm intending to put a 'decorative' fireplace in one room and leave the other boarded up.

My questions are these:-

Should the boarded up fireplace upstairs have a ventalation grill installed?
and
in the room with the decorative fireplace - I assume the chimley should have a board fitted in it to prevent drafts BUT should that board also have a vent grill?

I've been reading books and they say you should install vents, but these are referencing only downstairs grates NOT upstairs with a working fire downstairs. My worry is for CO from the fires downstairs seeping into the bedrooms through the grill. Or should there be sufficient updraft through the chimley to prevent this?

Many thanks

PasturesNew

I bought a house that had the fireplaces covered over with boarding. I took that down, had the insides rendered and covered the chimney hole. I put vents in the chimney hole/top of this because otherwise chimeys get damp.

When you put vents in, make sure you put some in you can close off - and use that option sparingly just when there's a howling gale coming down.

economiser

evilgoose wrote: »

Should the boarded up fireplace upstairs have a ventalation grill installed?
and
in the room with the decorative fireplace - I assume the chimley should have a board fitted in it to prevent drafts BUT should that board also have a vent grill?

They should be ventilated unless the chimneys are capped off. The flues are almost certainly separate for each fireplace so there should not be any risk of CO percolating through.

evilgoose

Wow Guys, thanks for the quick replies!

I feel much happier now.