fireplace

We have removed a plaster boarded wall in our living room. Is it possible and safe to remove some bricks from this previous fireplace space without the whole thing falling down? Specifically the bricks which I have circled? The lintel looks like it’s made of concrete. The plan is to have a...

I want to install a log burner in this opening. It has a brick arch lintel that sits fairly low (84cm if you include the bricks at the base). I want to install a lintel and box it off but I'm struggling to work out how I can do this in the least invasive way possible. I think at the very least...

Really confused about what angles and how I cut the skirting architraves. :unsure: I have probably the simplest Mitre box from Screwfix, and for some reason, cutting the angles doesn't seem to overlap at all. Youtube videos haven't helped. I am quite possibly being very daft and missing the...

Hello I have just moved into a 1902 terrace. I’ve removed the old gas fire and exposed a couple of bodged lintels and found the original arch. Can anyone advise if they think it would be okay to remove these two lintels and new bricks back to the original arch and bricks at the side. If so...

Hi Suspect I'm overthinking this but here goes.. I've opened up our fireplace and lined it with 12mm Hardiebacker in preparation for a wood burning stove. The Hardibacker is going to be skimmed with Vitcas heat resistant plaster. I thought the brick walls were pretty even so started fixing...

Hi, This is my first post and we're not experienced DIYers, but we're trying to learn. We want to put in a stove in our bricked up fireplace in the future (once we've got a bit more money saved up), but are trying to get the dirty jobs done before re-plastering the living room. We've removed...

Hoping for some advice. I have an early 90's house and have removed the old gas fire which had already had the gas pipe capped off by a gas safe professional. I removed the cast concrete fire surround and all the vermiculate and have installed a reinforced lintel to get the required 814mm...

I am opening up an old blocked up fireplace, but I'm not intending to put a burner or fire in. I've stripped back the plaster looking for a lintel, and about 1.65m from ground and not found one. Plus the brickwork shape is making me wonder if there will be one at all - can't find any other...

Hi, We're in the process of renovating our living room and are replacing the old gas fire with a fake/electric woodburner. Had the fire removed and gas supply capped off and now we've got round to removing the fire surround, mantel etc. Bit disappointed to find some questionable brickwork...

Hi. Very limited experience here. I recently paid someone to put down new boards and joists due to damp. They left it like this over the old fireplace block. I don't know if that's a normal way to leave it or not. I'd expected him to board over it and had never really thought to raise the...

Hi there Just had our old gas fire removed and trying to decide whether to plaster over or keep the hole for a feature. The opening is pretty small and messy and the flue blocks taper up so wondering if it's ok (or not) to knock out the pre cast blocks at the bottom? This would allow for a...

Hi, We've just had our gas fire taken out and gas capped in our new house. We were planning on putting in an electric log burner but would need to open out the cavity by around 10cm on either side in order for it to fit. I naively thought we might be able to just chisel away some brickwork on...

Hello, I'm moving into my house next week and one of the first things I want to do is remove the existing gas fire and surround (see image below) and put in a gas or electric stove (a proper wood burner wouldn't work with the existing flue from what I've been told). As you can see, the chimney...

I want to raise the level of my hearth to ultimately install a wood burning stove. However, the current hearth (below floor level) is cracked and powdery, and has a big piece missing right underneath where the old fireplace was. It's clearly been damaged by all the thermal stresses over its...

Hiya! I am knocking down the decorative part of my fireplace. It was chunky, took a lot of place, and made out of bricks. Everything is going great, but I am unsure about this part. It looks like cement has been poored underneath what seems to me the structural arch lintel, and goes over the...

Hello all, Thanks in advance for your assistance I'm hoping to open up my fireplace to the original size As you can see in the photos, the mortar line to the left and right where it has been bricked up from but I didn't immediately find a lintel above, or bricked arch or bricked soldiers to...

Hi, I've just uncovered the third fireplace in my 1860s terrace. The first two I uncovered are lovely stone fireplaces, all straightforward and easy to clear out and fix up, with nice even slabs of York stone as their lintels. The third one is unlike any lintel I've ever seen as it's got the...

I have a cast iron fireplace installed and wanted to put a gas fire insert (one of the coal ones) into the bottom where the real coal would have sat and had a couple of questions. An old 1950's fire was taken out, and I have cut away some of the brick and filler to allow this cast iron (coa...

Hello, I’ve just opened up a previously bricked up opening in a chimney breast to reinstate a cast iron fireplace. You can see where the original fire was removed - the area was rendered in with cement which I’ve now removed. The replacement skirting was concrete too! First time I’ve seen that...

Not a wizened DIYer so please forgive naivety and incorrect terminology. I have a couple of fireplaces in my ground floor Victorian flat, both with approx. 2cm of old (cracked) screed over approx. 20cm of cement (lots of large stones in this lower mix). This all sits on a rubble filled, brick...