FIREPLACES

[carly]

Hi
I have a victorian semi and need advice on the two downstairs fireplaces.both had hardboard with vents covering them. one is basically just a hole30cm wide and 50cm high. the other is a tiled fireplce with an opening 47cm wide and 60cm high. the better half doesnt like the smaller one and just wants to plasterboard the hole with an inset vent. personally i`d rather make a feature of it. his objection is that the opening is too small so my question is would the fireplace openings originally have been the same size and how hard would it be to knock the smaller one out to be bigger? we don`t have any money for victorian fireplaces so any ideas on presentation would be appreciated.
thanks
carly

 

[Moo]

I do hope that when you said "we don`t have any money for victorian fireplaces" it was just momentary inattention that made you leave out that crucial word 'yet'.

Whatever you (or your bank manager) may feel about it now there may well come a time when you (or a future owner) want to reinstate proper fireplaces. So do make sure that whatever you do now will be easily reversible or convertible in the future.

 

[carly]

sorry moo. momentary madness. we can`t afford victorian fireplaces yet. any ideas for 'temporary' presentation would be appreciated.
carly

 

[Moo]

Ah, I thought as much. Phew!

 

[Penners]

Carly - it might help to stimulate ideas if you were able to post pictures of the fireplaces. Could you do that?

 

[carly]

i wish penners. is there any step by step instructions for a dullard like me to post pics?
carly

 

[Penners]

Here's a repeat of something I posted for Jocelyn a few days ago:-

OK Jocelyn - here's a very inexpert potted explanation.

Before you can post an image here, you need to upload it to one of the many free image storage websites. For example, have a look at: http://photobucket.com/.

Once you have registered with Photobucket, you can upload images from your computer to Photobucket. Then when you want to include one of those uploaded images in a post here, visit your images in Photobucket - underneath you'll see a choice of three identification tags for each image. Click on the one in the "Img" box and then click CTRL+C.

Go back to "Post a reply" in PPUK and click CTRL+V and your image details will be included in your reply, complete with the correct IMG and /IMG tags to allow PPUK to recognise it as such.

Why not give it a try in the Test Me area of this forum?

Good luck!
David

 

[arl]

if you use imageshack you dont need to register

http://www.imageshack.us/

 

[carly]

 

[carly]

WOW, THANKS PENNERS. IT WORKED. THIIS IS THE SMALLER ONE. I`LL POST THE OTHER ONE WHEN I GET SOME POWER IN MY CAMERA.
CARLY

 

[carly]

this is the other fireplace. its painted tiles.i stripped the one in the top right corner and its a spangly black colour. this isnt the original fireplace is it?

 

[carly]

 

[Moo]

Well - with the second fireplace it's just a question of stripping. It looks as though you've got a bit of a treasure there!

The other one could be tidied up round the edges and just left as a minimalist hole. Your choice of what to fill it with (flowers? lamp? logs? sculpture?.......)

 

[Moo]

Oops - now I've put my glasses on I'm not so sure. What do people with 20/20 vision think?

 

[Geoffrey]

The chimney breast for the smaller fireplace seems quite wide. Couls there be a bigger opening hidden? In one of my previous homes a small bricklined hearth had been built within a much larger original stone one.
An older resident of the village told me that it was very common after the second world war for people to make their hearths much smaller due to the increrased expense of fuels to burn. (Of course this could be a myth - maybe there are older posters here who could confirm this).

 

[BMcD]

I think you might be right Geoffry, I'v opened up fireplaces only to find that they've been reduced. Also those bricks don't look like they've been near a fire since coming out the kiln

 

[Nemesis]

I'd keep knocking the plaster off - that way, you will reveal the original size of the opening. Highly unlikely that is it. Is this inset into a flat wall, or is it in the middle of a chimney breast as with the tiled one? The width of a chimney breast is usually a fair clue to the size of the opening you are likely to find.

In older homes it's also likely that one fire opening housed the kitchen range.


Re the other fireplace - B and Q c 1985?

 

[Penners]

Oops - now I've put my glasses on I'm not so sure. What do people with 20/20 vision think?

About the "treasure", d'you mean?

W-e-e-ell. I have to be very diplomatic here, because I don't want to be rude to Carly. Sufficient to say that it wouldn't be on my list of treasured features in the house. Date? I would hazard a guess at 1950's, but I ain't no expert no how.

 

[Lime]

The smaller fireplace does not look as though it has been used.
the bricks appear quite clean. Perhaps it was built for a gasfire?
I would suggest, as Geoffrey says, that it is inside another larger opening.

The larger appears to be about the 1950s as Penners suggests.

I recall that a brick (or specially shaped fire brick) was often placed at the back of an open fire to reduce the consumption of coal.
The trouble is that it considerably reduces the amount of heat given out and the ability for the fire to stay "in".