How to detect an inglenook fireplace?

[yjones]

Hi, Ive recently bought a cottage. It has a tiny fireplace. The neighbours cottages (its a terraced cottage) have inglenook fireplaces, and they say that all the cottages would have orginally been built with inglenook fireplaces. Before I go knocking down the existing fireplace, is there a way to detect if theres an inglenook fireplace behind it? I dont want to knock anything down unless there is an inglenook behind it!
Thanks

 

[OwainDIYer]

Hi, Ive recently bought a cottage. It has a tiny fireplace. The neighbours cottages (its a terraced cottage) have inglenook fireplaces, and they say that all the cottages would have orginally been built with inglenook fireplaces. Before I go knocking down the existing fireplace, is there a way to detect if theres an inglenook fireplace behind it? I dont want to knock anything down unless there is an inglenook behind it!
Thanks

Drill a small hole and stick an borescope in.

 

[yjones]

Thanks for your answer OwainDIYer. Is this a normal/common procedure? Ill have a look aroudn and see if I can rent one form somewhere. A builder said that he could open up a test strip aroun dwhere he thinks the lintel should be, but I want to do the least amount of damage as possible just in case!

 

[^woody^]

I can't see how you will be able to tell if an inglenook is there or not by looking at or behind the fireplace

An inglenook is a big opening in the wall typically with a beam above the opening

If this is reduced to a smaller fireplace, then there won't be a big void behind it it will be bricked in and the flue formed

If the chimney breast is disproportionately wide and deep for a small fire place opening, then yes it may be that the opening was once larger

 

[yjones]

Hi Woody. Ive stuck my head into the firplace and tried to look up the chimney as best I can. The chimney does seem to be wider than the fireplace - but I dont know if thats normal. How much wider would you expect a chimney to be than a fireplace? It does seem disproportionall wider - but then what do I know!?

You make a good point about them filling in the inglenook. If theyve done this, is it game over?

I had a chimeny sweep come out when I first moved in. I thought he would have an idea about how to best tackle the problem, but he just shrugged his shoulders. Are their specialists that could help - or would any builder do?
Thanks

 

[^woody^]

A flue is normally one size all the way up, and if this is a cottage, then the flue should be in the region of 200-300mm square

A fireplace would be a bit wider than a flue, and the opening will narrow towards the flue from the top of the fireplace

If the flue does go wider than the fireplace, then it may well be a sign of a wider previous opening.

If a previous wide fireplace was blocked up, then it will be a simple matter to remove the infill and reform the fire opening and flue connection

As I said, if the existing stack//chimney size indicates that a wider opening was possible, and if adjacent similar properties had wider fireplaces, then there is a good chance that yours has been blocked up.

On that basis, you will need to knock some of the wall out to investigate, and if so continue knocking, and if not put the bricks back in

You need an experienced builder

 

[yjones]

Thansk woody, Ill investigate further!