The fireplaces are just as is, with smoke and tar where there have been years of open fires. I am unsure what to do with them as we are putting in wood burning stoves. I suppose in an ideal world and a posh house, the fire places would be rendered - lime and soot don't mix. They would be painted and all pretty. But this house is not about pretty, it is about life and history and another chapter. What have others done in similar situations? I will try and find a photo in due course.
- Thread starter Socksitis
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CliffordPope
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Iron fire-back?
malcolm
& Clementine the cat
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A look around photos on the internet might give some ideas. It is common to leave sooty bricks behind a wood burner. I didn't alter or clean the fireplace when I installed mine. I'm working on another fireplace at the moment which will probably have the front face and sides of the opening plastered but the back in sooty brick.
tobydog
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We have a huge inglenook in what is a fairly modest cottage. For various reasons I'm convinced it was part of a much larger house before ours appeared in 1640. Anyway, the back of it was a complete eyesore and even the Conservation Officer said it wasn't exactly a thing of beauty!!. It wasn't just the thick soot and tar, it was the past 30/40 years of modern builders bodging it to do repairs with modern bricks.
Anyway, we had a local chap come in to sort it (Conservation Officer required a letter advising means / method because we're listed. It was seen as a repair). Soot and tar cleaned off as best we could followed by a coat of lime and chalk (Suffolk tradition). As totally expected, the soot and tar came though like massive bruises, ranging from very dark to light orange. I had a chat with Ingilby Paints and they suggested leaving the coat for a few months to cure properly with the intention of the plaster locking in the soot and tar with the idea being to lime wash later. There were no guarantees which was just as well because the soot and tar came through the lime wash quite readily. After a lot of head scratching I then thought I'd try a test pot of white clay paint that I had. I put one coat on and watched it to see what happened. Several months later and it's still perfectly white. Also, having used lime wash in other parts of the house, I knew what it looked and felt like and I have to admit that the clay paint felt and looked identical. This was largely due to the fact that the plaster was intentionally put on rather roughly. Dead smooth would have looked too modern. I was careful to paint around the little remaining original parging on the sides so you could still see the history. It took a while for the salts to stops coming through and now it's fine. It's transformed the inglenook.
We still have a quite a bit of work to do on the sides after modern builders had taken to the original / much older plaster with something very mechanical. It's covered in scars and the soft tudors are in bad shape in places.
So there it is. A quick clean, lime render and clay paint. Job done
Anyway, we had a local chap come in to sort it (Conservation Officer required a letter advising means / method because we're listed. It was seen as a repair). Soot and tar cleaned off as best we could followed by a coat of lime and chalk (Suffolk tradition). As totally expected, the soot and tar came though like massive bruises, ranging from very dark to light orange. I had a chat with Ingilby Paints and they suggested leaving the coat for a few months to cure properly with the intention of the plaster locking in the soot and tar with the idea being to lime wash later. There were no guarantees which was just as well because the soot and tar came through the lime wash quite readily. After a lot of head scratching I then thought I'd try a test pot of white clay paint that I had. I put one coat on and watched it to see what happened. Several months later and it's still perfectly white. Also, having used lime wash in other parts of the house, I knew what it looked and felt like and I have to admit that the clay paint felt and looked identical. This was largely due to the fact that the plaster was intentionally put on rather roughly. Dead smooth would have looked too modern. I was careful to paint around the little remaining original parging on the sides so you could still see the history. It took a while for the salts to stops coming through and now it's fine. It's transformed the inglenook.
We still have a quite a bit of work to do on the sides after modern builders had taken to the original / much older plaster with something very mechanical. It's covered in scars and the soft tudors are in bad shape in places.
So there it is. A quick clean, lime render and clay paint. Job done
Abi Cott
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In my job and as a kid I've always heard solvent based primer is a good idea. But it's definitely not breathable so I'm unsure if it's right in a stone built/potentially damp/ listed property.