Sealing a chimney after removing gas fire

[Deleted member 236319]

Hello all,

We have an Edwardian end terrace house. I recently removed an old gas fire in the living room and had the gas pipe capped off under the floorboards (by a registered gas man I might add!).

The plan was to have a multi-fuel stove installed so I spent some time opening up and preparing the opening. However, along with discovering that we need a new damp proof course and the recent fitting of a new boiler, we've decided against the stove so we are going to make a feature out of the opening instead.

We have gas cowls on the chimney stack at present (please see attached image for example). The flue in the bedroom above was blocked off long ago, before we bought the house in 2005 and we've not had damp issues with that.

My main question is - can we simply seal the opening to the flue in the living room and leave the gas cowl intact to serve the purpose of 'capping' ala the bedroom flue?

If so, would a chimney balloon suffice? We've had a little soot blow down with the recent extreme weather conditions (we're in West Yorkshire at the top of a valley). Would this degrade a balloon over time? Would I be better fitting a galvanised steal plate and sealing around it?

I'm about to spend a lot of money on a DPC so I want to make sure we don't have damp issues later on with the chimney.

Many thanks

Joe

 

[Deleted member 236319]

Is anyone able to help with this? Thanks.

 

[chappers]

how about a chimney sheep instead will still let it breath

 

[jeds]

Standard advice is to maintain ventilation to masonry flues. I've known of plenty that were sealed and caused no problem - but then I've also known plenty that did. Problem is it often looks fine for a year or two - or even many years - but then it suddenly appears and is a bar steward to get rid of. In other words you could be storing up a problem for later. And the time you find out is when a surveyor visits and tells a buyer to negotiate a grand off the price because the unvented flue is causing dampness. So what's it going to be - the red pill or the blue pill?

 

[theprinceofdarkness]

If all you are doing is stopping a bit of soot falling down, then any bit of ply/P5 chipboard should do. Steel plates are used when there is a hot metal flue passing through them. There should be a small air vent (leak), so warm air from the room can dry out any condensation within the flue.
Frank

 

[Deleted member 236319]

Hi all,

Many thanks for your advice. I think I will give one of these "chimney sheep" a go for now, I guess 20 quid isn't too much to see if it's a suitable solution.

Thanks.