Fire place wood beam fitting method

[600rob]

I'm trying to remove a wooden beam from a fire place that is sat onto of the brick work either side of the fire.
Initially it looked like it was just sat on top of the brick but it's got a couple of metal straps either side that appear to go up into the void behind the plasterboard.

I'm going to slide a hacksaw blade down the back and cut though as I can't get in with a Dremel.
But was thinking how was this fitted in the first place??? There are no signs whatsoever of the metal strip going into or being fastened to the wall from the front.(pb has jus been papered and painted. Not skimmed and no signs of filler) the bracket just goes up into a small cutout in the plasterboard covered by the beam.
The clearance ive managed to get in the pic is about all the slack I've managed to create between the beam and the wall so
I'm a bit bit baffled as to how the straps were fitted to the beam and the wall in the first place.

P.s I'm needing to remove the beam without damaging the wall.

 

[mrrusty]

No standard method - people do what they do. Multitool with a metal cutting blade will have that off quickly and cleanly.

 

[Deleted member 174758]

But was thinking how was this fitted in the first place??? There are no signs whatsoever of the metal strip going into or being fastened to the wall from the front.(pb has jus been papered and painted. Not skimmed and no signs of filler) the bracket just goes up into a small cutout in the plasterboard covered by the beam.
The clearance ive managed to get in the pic is about all the slack I've managed to create between the beam and the wall so
I'm a bit bit baffled as to how the straps were fitted to the beam and the wall in the first place.

Two methods I can think of - it is an L-bracket which was fitted to bare masonry before the entire wall was skimmed (or more usually a pocket was cut into the plaster for it then filled, but you have discounted that). The angle bracket might "point" downwards on the masonry, not upwards, in which case any repairs to the plasterwork wouldn't be that easy to see. An alternative method would be to cut a narrow slot into the plaster at a mortar joint using a plugging chisel and club hammer and extended into the mortar joint, A straight plate could then be whacked into the mortar joint.

I think that however this comes out you'll have to accept a small amount of damage which will need filling afterwards. My own approach would be either a recip saw with a metal blade, or a hacksaw blade with one end wrapped in a bit of rag or gaffer tape

 

[DAZB]

It may be wall ties set between the courses or an angle which is behind the plaster so try removing some plaster down an inch or two, at worst it can just be filled over if not.

 

[600rob]

Yeah it was some kind of metal tie screwed into the beam and going up into the wall somewhere.
Multi tool cut through it easy enough and revealed a couple of small cutouts that I can tidy up