Fireplace revelations!

[Nemesis]

While pottering about on the Mike Wye website came across this which I found interesting:

http://www.mikewye.co.uk/fireplace2.htm

(yes I am sure that the tiled fireplace had its merits also...)

 

[Nemesis]

Here's another from the photogallery:

http://www.mikewye.co.uk/fireplace.htm

 

[MdB]

I thought I'd been through the Mike Wye site but I'd missed those. I had two equally nice 1970's fireplaces which alas are no more. Behind are two horrible old 1850's fireplaces which was such a pain to find .

I guess we are half way getting them back to their formal glory. I'll post pictures once we have finished them but there so much other work that needs doing...

 

[Nemesis]

Some interesting stuff on the Mike Wye site, but like you I hadn't really investigated the photogallery before now.

 

[DaveBrigg]

They look great, but I wonder if they are functional. Not a problem I suppose if you have central heating. Our main fireplace had been successively closed in. We opened it back to the original size, but now it won't draw properly - made me realise why it may have been filled in the first place
(will hopefully be fitting a woodburner soon)

 

[Nemesis]

I wonder though if cold houses and warm chimneys, where the fire was never really allowed to go out, helped with the draw?

Things such as trees and even chimney pot heights can alter dramatically the way a fire pulls.

And of course anything was an improvement of what had gone before, with central fires and smoke finding its own way out via a hole in the roof.

 

[MdB]

Our two fireplaces will also probably be too large once they are returned to their original size to draw properly. We will probably fit a wood burner to one but the other we would like as an open fire. This will probably require some sort of smoke hood or the like to be fitted. Any good suggestions on fitting something inside a large fireplace that doesn't look silly?

 

[Nemesis]

We fitted a large Stovax Regency - it is used with doors open, has the advantage of the smoke going up the chimney and not in the room.
When there is no fire the doors are closed on the ashes. The metal heats up and a small fire can give out a considerable amount of heat. We bought large as it fills up the sapce, but firebricks inside the grate mean it doesn't consume vast amounts of fuel. You can even fit a back boiler, but we haven't as the pipe runs would have been nigh on impossible.

It may not look right in all places though.

You can buy simple firebox type thingys too which could be worth investigating.

If you want a smoke hood over a fire on dogs or a grate then I suspect there are many on the market, or get one made to measure. There used to be someone who used to advertisd a catchhood design in the back of period property mags, but I haven't bought one for while and don't know if he still makes them. They were unconventional in appearance but he reckoned very effective. The worry is with any smoke hood is that you can spend the cash and it may not work well. Mocking it up first and some trial and error could be worthwhile.

You could make one from wicker:

http://www.periodproperty.co.uk/ppom012006.htm


Some useful info here regarding smoking chimneys , of which I can say I have had my fair share over the years!

http://www.stovesonline.co.uk/smoking-fireplace-stove.html

http://www.chimneysweeps.co.uk/othercausesofsmokingfireplace.htm

This is poss a bit tangential but interesting to period property anoraks:

http://www.hevac-heritage.org/victorian_engineers/grundy/grundy.htm

 

[Gareth Hughes]

While pottering about on the Mike Wye website came across this which I found interesting:

http://www.mikewye.co.uk/fireplace2.htm

(yes I am sure that the tiled fireplace had its merits also...)

I strongly suspect that the original fireplace never looked anything like what it's been "restored" to.

 

[Nemesis]

I also wonder how long before it's 'modernised' again!

 

[MdB]

... big list of chimney links ...

Thanks for that. Very useful. The chimneysweeps.co.uk is local to us so I may well give them a call.