Fireplace

[skier-hughes]

Moving on from my shoreing up.........

I'm putting an open fire into the bedroom, you may remember earlier pictures, and I've got a slate hearth to put down on what will be new oak floorboards.

The Fire man has said we need 2" of fire resistance, so I was planning on putting down a piece of fire reatrdent/resistant board, with my slate being nearly an inch thick, I cut some slate to make the height up to 2+" so I'll have some small pieces of slate stuck together to form a 3 sided border, the fourth side will be the brick wall, with a piece of FR board dropped in the bottom, then put some cement in the hole to come level with the slate border and stick the slate on top.

Now, my quandry is, what to do with the fact that the floor boards don't have anything to rest on right at the end, where they will meet the wall and the weight of the hearth will be.

There is hole behind the bricks which run up next to the last beam. Should I fill this with rubble, it's not too big and deep, then level off with some lime, this would support the floorboards and the weight of the hearth.

Should I not worry, in that the weight isn't going to be great and will be over the last beam anyway?

 

[skier-hughes]

Wide view from kitchen below

 

[Penners]

If I understand you correctly, the floor boards will ultimately bridge the gap between the last floor joist and the wall of the chimney - the gap that's partly filled with the line of bricks in the picture 'Looking down into hole from above'. It looks about 8 inches wide. Is that right?

If so, then I think I would try to provide some support for these cantilevered boards - particularly as they'll be supporting a slap of concrete surmounted by slate. There could possibly be a bit of flexion in the cantilevered board ends, which (looking on the pessimistic side) just might cause cracking in the concrete.

It doesn't look as though it would be too difficult to fix a timber or angle-iron support to the face of the chimney, flush with the underside of the boards, to provide this support. Timber would be better, of course, because you can then screw the ends of the floorboards to it. If necessary, perhaps you could temporarily knock a few of the top course of bricks off the wall underneath, to enable you to do this. They shouldn't be too difficult to replace afterwards.

 

[skier-hughes]

If I understand you correctly, the floor boards will ultimately bridge the gap between the last floor joist and the wall of the chimney - the gap that's partly filled with the line of bricks in the picture 'Looking down into hole from above'. It looks about 8 inches wide. Is that right?

There is a line of bricks just behind the beam, which I could build up level with the beam. This would leave me with a gap of about 3" I could put a strip of Oak along the main wall and allow the boards to sit on that.

If necessary, perhaps you could temporarily knock a few of the top course of bricks off the wall underneath, to enable you to do this. They shouldn't be too difficult to replace afterwards.

Very easy, being as I've just put them in place!!!!

Graham

 

[Penners]

There is a line of bricks just behind the beam, which I could build up level with the beam. This would leave me with a gap of about 3" I could put a strip of Oak along the main wall and allow the boards to sit on that.

Sounds good. Obviously it'll be best if the ends of the boards can be nailed or (better) screwed down on to a rigid support.

Have fun!

 

[skier-hughes]

yes, by sit on that I meant nailed down.