Fireplace advice

towl

Hi, hoping someone here might be able to help me out.

I have bought a Victorian house, built c1880, which is of traditional brick construction, and has 4 fireplaces in situ, one in the lounge, one in the dining room, and one in each of the bedrooms in the rooms above.

In the lounge at present, is a gas fire, which i am guessing was put in within the last 20 years or so, (certainly not when built).

Is it possible, all be it with a bit of work, to have a wood burning stove put in place of the gas one, and revert the fireplace/chimney, backto how it originally would have been.

Also if anyone has any knowledge on these kind of houses, with the upstairs fireplace being above the lounge one, would this mean I could not have a real fire downstairs, due to smoke escaping, or some other matter.

Thanks in advance for any help.

bobmoss

Hi,

I've got a house that sounds identical to yours (built the same time and with same number of fire places).

Yes, you should be able to get the gas fire taken out and install a wood burner. It may take a bit of work though if they have bricked up the the old fireplace. Also, depending on the condition of the chimney you may have to get it lined.

With regards to the upstairs fireplace above the downstairs one, if you look closely, you will probably find that the upstairs ones are slightly offset to one side (in our house both upstairs fireplaces are to the left of the chimney breast). What usually happens is that the chimney breast has two flues in it. If you look outside at your chimney pots you should see that you have two pots on each chimney.

Your best bet would be to get a local company who specialise in wood burning stoves to come and have a look. Alternatively, give your local chimney sweep a call and see if he can have a quick look for you.

Cheers.

towl

Cheers for that Bob, you are correct, I have chimney pots a plenty. Alsothinking about it the fireplaces are not directly above each other, it just appears that way.

Guess i need to get someone to come out and look at it, guess it will all come down to expense at the end of the day.

shifter123

Hi,
I'm having a stove fitted soon and think I have narrowed down my decision from this site:
http://www.stovesareus.co.uk/catalog/stoves-c-21.html
They have a huge selection have some good freebies (delivery and pipe) on offer and were helpful when I called them.

There are links to explain about the different linings that are available:
http://www.stovesareus.co.uk/catalog/help_advice/twin_wall_systems.html

http://www.stovesareus.co.uk/catalog/help_advice/flexible_flue_liner.html

I got a local chimney sweep to come and check the integrity of my chimney stack, he gave it a clean and put a smoke-bomb up there to make sure no smoke leached out of the breast upstairs. We are lucky and dont need any linings, but best to be sure.
Try this link for a local sweep:
http://www.guild-of-master-sweeps.co.uk/chimney_sweeps_in.php

Or try your local Yellow Pages or yell.com

hope this helps