Blocking a disused balanced flue from gas fire (Ed.)

[Mia2023]

Hey, new to the forum but hope I could get some advice.

I am paying a gas safe engineer to remove my Gas fire next week however I'm unsure on how to block it up permanently. We are planning to mount an electric one in it's place.

We assume it will leave a hole in the wall which leads to the external wall flue (vent).

Would it be safe enough to block up the hole with plywood, leaving the flue as it is and then plaster over this etc, or would we need insulation and to remove the vent and brick that up too?

 

[denso13]

Is it a chimney or just a flue? If a flue you could fill the opening with plasterboard and then plaster over. Make sure there is a suitable terminal on top of the flue to stop rain getting in and stuff some loose fibre insulation in at the bottom to stop draughts.

 

[Mia2023]

Thank you for your advice. We don't have a chimney, so I believe it would be the single round flue with a metal cage (all visible from the outside brick wall).

Truthfully I'm unsure of what type of terminal we currently have, but I assume we will find out more once the current fire is removed and a hole is exposed, leading to the external flue.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

Thank you for your advice. We don't have a chimney, so I believe it would be the single round flue with a metal cage (all visible from the outside brick wall).

Truthfully I'm unsure of what type of terminal we currently have, but I assume we will find out more once the current fire is removed and a hole is exposed, leading to the external flue.

Why not brick it up properly outside, with matching bricks, and do similar on the inside?

 

[Mia2023]

We are completely new to DIY with this being our first home, so we were unsure what the best option would be.

 

[denso13]

We are completely new to DIY with this being our first home, so we were unsure what the best option would be.

I was assuming vertical flue but a horizontal one is even easier. Just block it with some insulation, you could eventually brick it up but that has its own problems.

 

[Mia2023]

Thank you. We would probably brick the external wall up at some point in the future.

Regarding the insulation, would you by any chance know what type is best?

 

[denso13]

Regarding the insulation, would you by any chance know what type is best?

Anything will do, it's just to stop draughts. Steal a bit of glass wool from your loft?

 

[Mia2023]

Amazing, thank you.