Why would someone extend a fireplace forwards?

Sapindus

I've just looked at a 1930s house with an open fireplace in the living room.  Someone has extended the fireplace forwards into the room with bricks and put a big chunky mantel on top of it, nearly a foot wide.  This makes the room seem a lot smaller (not huge to start with) and I can't think why someone would do this unless it was to fix some sort of problem with the fire, like it didn't "draw".  It seems a lot of room to lose just to gain a more decorative feature.

Seller assured me the fire works very well.

Any ideas on this being a red flag?

diveunderthebonnet

Any chance of a photo ?

grumpy_codger

IIRC, some old "open fireplaces" are tiny, possibly because they were designed mainly for coal. For normal logs you want something bigger.

stuart45

Is the original fireplace flush to the wall with an exterior flue, or are the jambs built into the room with an internal flue?

Slinky

Back boiler behind it?

stuart45

People sometimes build a brick fire surround with a timber mantel. Shouldn't be an issue. 
If you want to continue using a open fire it's worth getting a sealed flue smoke test.

Sapindus

stuart45 said:

Is the original fireplace flush to the wall with an exterior flue, or are the jambs built into the room with an internal flue?

There is a chimney breast so I think the latter. And it's the party wall with next door.

Sapindus

Slinky said:

Back boiler behind it?

There is a back boiler in the other room (chimneys not adjacent) so I doubt it.

Sapindus

diveunderthebonnet said:

Any chance of a photo ?

Only what's on Rightmove which seems to be a bit frowned upon.

stuart45

Take a photo of it off the computer screen and put that on.

ThisIsWeird

Or just a link to the RM listing.