Fireplace Insert Help please

[katieb]

Hi all

Happy New Year

I have this beautiful marble surround, which I believe is the original. As you can see the insert has been tiled over. I am looking to restore it back to something more fitting. The other fireplaces in the home have beautiful cast iron inserts.

My problem is, the width is 41.5in, height 38.5in. I can't find any cast iron inserts with this size. I've contacted so many fireplace shops to try and find something but I'm stuck. Does anyone have any guidance / help / any contacts I can reach out to? I'm in central Scotland.

 

[a twig]

In my (admittedly England based) experience those inserts weere usually cast at a now long departed local foundry so weren’t standardised - trying to find an exact fit will be difficult, unless any neighbours or local reclaim type places have them. Always worth a check under the stairs, last two houses I owned someone had ripped them out but then thoughtfully tucked them away under there for posterity.

 

[fernicarry]

I've run into the same problem myself. Inserts seem to be a standard 36" but surrounds often have a wider gap. Salvage places I've spoken to say they can add a border around the insert although a join will probably still be visible.

Have you tried Glasgow Architectural Salvage in Scotstoun? They have hundreds of inserts in their shed but they are all stacked together so tightly you can't really get a good look at many of them .

Also Glasgow Salvage in Paisley. They have far fewer inserts, they are more about doors, but we got lucky and found a cast iron combination that we really liked. They have an interesting business model -- they urged me to take it away for a free trial and return it if I didn't like it. Funnily enough I didn't return it...

Or you might be able to alter the surround to suit an insert, it will be made up of separate pieces. I have a salvaged wooden surround that I'm planning to disassemble and chop a few inches out of the middle to get it to fit an existing gap. Easier done with wood than stone admittedly...

 

[Niall]

I'll throw a curve ball:

Do you actually want a open fire? They are 100% worse than any other options.

If no, go stove set in the good marble and no need for insert. We just got this fitted by the Fire Place in West Linton S of Edinburgh.

 

[fernicarry]

You can get stoves small enough to fit into an insert with a 16" opening. That's what I'll be doing with my combination fireplace. Main objective is to reinstate the decorative feature of the fireplace with the little stove being a nice bonus. Our big stove in the living room is done much like yours (including the unfinished plaster...). But, yeah, just fitting the stove so that the flue was closed off with the register plate has made a huge difference to the comfort of that room. I do miss the look of the old grate though.

 

[Niall]

You can get stoves small enough to fit into an insert with a 16" opening. That's what I'll be doing with my combination fireplace. Main objective is to reinstate the decorative feature of the fireplace with the little stove being a nice bonus. Our big stove in the living room is done much like yours (including the unfinished plaster...). But, yeah, just fitting the stove so that the flue was closed off with the register plate has made a huge difference to the comfort of that room. I do miss the look of the old grate though.

There is also a cardboard box of matches and door window scrubber hidden behind the kindling bucket to keep @Zebra happy.

Draft reduction has been epic in these recent blows, also allows specific heat of the living room after dinner; vice the temptation to hit boost on the whole house.

 

[CliffordPope]

I'll throw a curve ball:

Do you actually want a open fire? They are 100% worse than any other options.

Yes! They add character like no other fire. A flame behind glass is soulless, and condemns you to burning only precut logs of the right size. With a proper open fire you can burn long logs, chunky logs, all varieties. We've burned big hunks of tree trunk this Christmas that have burned all day, and still been smouldering the next morning. Ask any cat which it would rather stretch out in front of!

 

[Stevers]

We've had a several 'decorative' open fires over Christmas burning woodwork offcuts and bits of wood from the garden. This would be anything from a shrub or tree that can't be shredded and then composted including any rotten bean poles. It is a Victorian style cast iron insert intended for coal, but burns wood well. We leave a bed of ashes in it all year round with a 'sheep' up the chimney to stop the 'giraffes'. For special occasions I remove the sheep (that's important), and using shavings (see offcuts) light a real fire that leaves the room lovely and toasty pretty quickly - it's a real treat, and even fetches my son out of his bedroom!