Hi
I've long been reading the informative posts on this forum but couldn't find one that deals with my exact situation so I thought I'd sign up and ask!
As the title says, I've pulled out an old gas fire (it was already capped off by a gas-safe engineer). Once out, I was left with what I know know/think to be a thick concrete fireback. It looked to be to leave a space too small for a real open fire so I guesed (wrongly?) that the fireback was installed when the gas fire was added and therefore proceeded to chop it out and am now left with the pictures below.
It seems that the excavated hole is huge - at least 60cm to the bricks at the back and posibly more than 1M wide at the back.
House was built in 1970 and there is a proper chimney with what looks like some kind of pottery based flue about 19cm internal diameter. I don't know if the fireplace was there when the house was built or whether it was added later but I do know the old gas pipe went round two long sides of the house externally so it kind of feels like it might have been added afterwards.
Apart from comments on the above if they are due, my question really is what to do now? Do I buy a new fireback and how do I know if I need a "16 inch" or "18 inch" ? Also the floor seems uneven with a void space as I hope one of the pictures shows. Do I just somehow make good the floor perhaps pouring concrete in or a new slab fire-cemented in?
The width of the opening is 19inches. The height is harder to measure but externally from the marble hearth to the existing decorative tiles is just under 23 inches.
Thanks in advance for any advice.
I've long been reading the informative posts on this forum but couldn't find one that deals with my exact situation so I thought I'd sign up and ask!
As the title says, I've pulled out an old gas fire (it was already capped off by a gas-safe engineer). Once out, I was left with what I know know/think to be a thick concrete fireback. It looked to be to leave a space too small for a real open fire so I guesed (wrongly?) that the fireback was installed when the gas fire was added and therefore proceeded to chop it out and am now left with the pictures below.
It seems that the excavated hole is huge - at least 60cm to the bricks at the back and posibly more than 1M wide at the back.
House was built in 1970 and there is a proper chimney with what looks like some kind of pottery based flue about 19cm internal diameter. I don't know if the fireplace was there when the house was built or whether it was added later but I do know the old gas pipe went round two long sides of the house externally so it kind of feels like it might have been added afterwards.
Apart from comments on the above if they are due, my question really is what to do now? Do I buy a new fireback and how do I know if I need a "16 inch" or "18 inch" ? Also the floor seems uneven with a void space as I hope one of the pictures shows. Do I just somehow make good the floor perhaps pouring concrete in or a new slab fire-cemented in?
The width of the opening is 19inches. The height is harder to measure but externally from the marble hearth to the existing decorative tiles is just under 23 inches.
Thanks in advance for any advice.
