Victoria firepalce - lintel ?

[welsh]

hello

moved into a 1904 house a month ago. in the dining room I removed a radiator which was covering the old fireplace. I was left with the following.

//www.diynot.com/network/welsh/albums/

the purple area was where an old fire was I think. but the cyan area is this just infill for the fire? is it safe to remove all these bricks ?

the red line is where the lintel just fell out (shown on the right)

I want to leave this open, but a little worried with no lintel and no natural arch like the fireplace in the lounge this might need securing?

what would be your thoughts on this ?

thanks

Welsh

 

[ree]

Remove all the infill brickwork out to the turquoise lines and up to the red line.
It should be safe to do so.
Insert a concrete lintel at the height required.

Knock off all plaster and sooty debris in the fire opening back to clean brickwork.

Brick up as desired.

Have the flue(s) swept and smoke tested. Check for a vent terminal on the chimney stack.

Come back if you need advice ref patch plastering and sorting out the skirting.

The flooring has been lifted and badly replaced - why?

What is the long term plan for the c/breast opening?

 

[welsh]

thanks for the quick reply.

I am going to either expose the brick work around the chimney and mount a tv over the opening ( putting in concrete lintel i assume wouldnt look good then) or open up the chimney and plaster the whole thing leaving the opening.

the floor is a work in progress, its not nailed down yet. this is to be painted white.

 

[TheVictorian]

I suspect that if you keep going up above the red line then you may find a nice arch, no way to be sure until you have removed more plaster though.

 

[welsh]

Hi ya, yes it does look like there's an arch above! So anything below that can be removed I assume. I am happy now.

If I go with the exposed brick what would be the best tool to remove the plaster? Seems about 2 inches of it!

 

[ree]

Where is the arch - can you expose it and point it out on a pic?
Or are you referring to the already exposed soldier course of a few bricks?

A brick chisel will hack off the mortar or plaster.

Around the hearth there is a brick fender wall and joists will be close to or sitting on the fender wall - check them for rot.

To the right of the c/breast a patch of stained plaster can be seen - is this a concern?

 

[welsh]

photo here

Untitled

• welsh
• 30 Jul 2014
• 1

think this is an arch

the wall had a radiator on it so the markings is staining from that I believe. had all the boards up and the joists looked good. just checked again and no rot thankfully

cheers for your help

I need to get a proper chisel to get more plaster off. is it possible the bricks are of a poor quality and not good enough for being exposed. suppose I need to hack more off to see

 

[ree]

That, the soldier course i referred to above, is of no use to you as an "arch".
Presumably the metal bar lintel came from beneath it.

If you expose the brickwork then you can use a metal bar or angle iron lintel which will be set back and not revealed. Or, have a true arch built to your dimensions.

You will have to expend much time and energy in cleaning up that c/breast for showing exposed b/work. Often, the whole c/breast is raked out and re-pointed for presentation and to firm it up.

 

[welsh]

hi there

had a little more time to look at the fire place

Untitled

• welsh
• 11 Aug 2014
• 1

decided i am going to plasterboard it up but leaving the hole there

the new photo the red box, that lower part of chimney is kinda hanging down can that come out?

and still the pink bit u think would be fine to remove?

thanks again

 

[theprinceofdarkness]

I had a 1960s tiled hearth that was ugly so we removed it, it had a thin stone lintel above it. I removed that and the bricks above it and came across a curved iron bar holding up a brick arch. As the house is stone built, decided that this was a Victorian modification. So removed the bar and the bricks, came across a proper stone lintel about 6' above the floor. We decided that there was a huge cast iron range originally installed.
I say this because the brickwork above the "arch" looks definitely suspect, I would remove a section of plaster about 12 " wide and at least that high above the left hand edge to see if you can find some proper brick courses or another older arch, which should have a rusty flat iron bar supporting it. about 1 1/2" wide and 1/4" thick.
Frank

 

[welsh]

ok me again !

thanks for the reply, gave me confidence to keep hacking plaster off

so have found the arch

Untitled

• welsh
• 11 Aug 2014
• 1

so basically under that everything can go

also the bricks on the arch the fronts have broken away, if i was to expose is there a way to make them look better? does that make sense