Hi,
We've just had our gas fire taken out and gas capped in our new house. We were planning on putting in an electric log burner but would need to open out the cavity by around 10cm on either side in order for it to fit. I naively thought we might be able to just chisel away some brickwork on either side (I have no DIY experience in case you couldn't tell ), but the gas engineer who removed the fire told us that it's solid flue bricks behind the fireplace and a lintel might need to be installed to make it possible. We have a Class 2 prefabricated flue running straight up, and the chimney breast behind the fireplace is extremely shallow (only 12cm deep). The cavity currently is 40cm at the front and slightly narrower at the back at 30cm. Anyone know the best way to go about this and how expensive it might be? If it's going to cost a fortune I'll just fill in the hole and tile over the back panel but I would really like to put in an electric stove if possible!
Any help would be very much appreciated!
Thanks