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Hi, recently moved into house with chimney breast. In this chimney breast is a large square shaped hole. There is no hearth or mantel etc and inside this hole was an old wood burning type electric fire. I would like to turn it into an open fire but dont know where to start. It looks as if there could have been a layer of bricks removed from the inside of the sides to enlarge the hole. there are 2 very strong metal bars above where these bricks have been removed and the wooden panel that blockes the chimney sits on these bars. who do i need to contact re opening this properly. i dont want to take out the bars myself incase the whole inside falls in or something dangerous. Please advise. Many thanks.

first have the flue cleaned this is relatively cheap he will be able to tell if its useable.
After that call out a fireplace installer he will at least give you some ideas of what you want,gas wood burner etc.

Hello there, i'm not really able to answer your question, but I have a similar situation so thought it best to reply here instead of posting a new topic.

I have too recently moved into a new house, the previous owners had stuck an awful gas fireplace over the original one and want to open up the original fireplace. I took the fireplace off, chipped off the plasterboard, and I was left with what looks like an original arch of bricks, with some newer bricks cemented inside the original ones, decreasing the opening.

It looks to me as if the black arch of bricks is original, with the red brinks inside being a more recent addition. My aim is to remove those more recent red brinks leaving just the black brick arch, but i want to make sure i wont weaken anything. I have been told that a house this age (1960ish) would have had an original fireplace measuring approximately 24 x 24 inches, and this tallies with the black bricks.

Any thoughts/advice would be much appreciated.

I have a similar problem and am sorry I cannot provide an answer, but will use theis thread as well. I've moved into a semi-detached house previously owned by a DIY enthusiast. He had installed a wood-burning stove into the old fireplace. But the neighbour with the adjoining wall is complaing that the heat of the wall on his side is extreme! The fire authority have been out and extinguished the stove, and it is not to be turned on until repaired. They also notified building control who have sent a notice to make application for the stove installation.

I'm able to do DIY works, however am unsure about why such heat is transferring through the wall, nor am I sure about the regulations re the installation of these appliaances?

Would anyone be able to advise me also?

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