inglenook recovery

[Fizzer]

The plan for the house has changed a little since we moved in, an impending operation means that we need to get more effective heating than the cr4ppy night storage heaters.

To that end we have been working away at the fireplace in the living room for some time (OK, my father has on our behalf) and he has exposed some really nice interesting old brick. It's all stacked up in shapes that suggest that, many years ago, careful improvement was done to the back of the inglenook to minimise smoke leakage into the room.

Back in the 60's it was 'improved' with a baxi fire and a fake stone chimney breast with the rest of the 'grotty old stuff' faced up with bricks and concrete. This is now all but gone, he's currently removing concrete and bricks that were used to 'face up' the 'grotty' old red bricks.

The problem is that much of this loveley old brickwork is pretty knackered, there's also a rather awkward looking 8" flue pipe sticking out of the side where an old heating appliance used to be. That's going to be next on our hit list. It may have speared the original bread oven.

The chimney is humungous and seems to be lined with a mud/straw mix (that's just my best guess) and we'd like to install a stove.

How do building regs affect us? Can we attach a flexible flue to the inside of the chimney, make a register plate and attach that to the stove?

Should we remove the existing liner?

Does anyone know who can sympathetically restore the old brick we have found? some bricks are completely missing (turned to dust). I'm sure that the structure of the chimney is sound (it has been there for ages after all) however the intersting brickwork looks worryingly unsound

Also can anyone recommend a good stove that will last us for a bit?

 

[Penners]

Starting with making good the crumbled bricks, your best bet is probably to see if you can find some matching ones in an architectural salvage yard.
As regards the installation of a woodburner, it would be very unwise just to install a flexible liner inside your big chimney, with a register plate. It is essential that the exhaust from a wood burner remains at a high temperature right up to the top of the chimney. If it cools, it will leaved condensed tars and acids lining the flue, and these will quickly corrode it.

You have two options for avoiding this. You can use insulated flue pipe - this has a double skin with insulation in between. Or you can use a single-skin stainless steel pipe and fill the space between the pipe and the chimney walls with vermiculite insulation. In the latter case, you obviously don't want to have an inspection hatch in the register plate!

There are lots of good makes of woodburner, but I do urge you to choose one with an "air wash" ventilation system. This draws air down the inside of the glass door, which is very helpful at minimising muck on the glass. Saves a lot of cleaning work.

 

[MdB]

It is also worth reading this thread:
http://periodpropertyshop.co.uk/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=8311
and the links on Nemesis's long post. There is a lot of useful stuff on chimneys and suitable ways of lining them for various types of fires.

edit - you should also read this really exciting document...
http://www.planningportal.gov.uk/uploads/br/BR_PDF_ADJ_2002.pdf

 

[Fizzer]

cool, thanks for the info, I have been looking at stoves and how to fit them properly and am now much more clued up

Our chimney is 6' wide at the base so filling with vermiculite may not be the best option!

Just out of interest, can anyone date our bricks? They are red, very old looking bricks and the dimentions are 2" x 4" 3/8 x 8" 7/8 - we may need some more of these if we can get them.

Dad has also exposed an iron bread oven frame (filled with concrete) it gets more and more interesting with each brick thats removed.

 

[Nemesis]

Dating bricks - not an exact science I have to say!

Post a pic.

Great about the oven - hope you can remove the unfill without terrible damage.

Bricks - failing finding anything else suitable somewhere like Bulmer Brick and Tile may be able to make some to match up.

Six feet sounds a very wide flue - does it not narrow? Is it straight?

http://www.buildingconservation.com/directory/2n103.htm

http://www.fmb.org.uk/publications/masterbuilder/august04/traditional.pdf


Stoves - a million to choose from!

 

[Penners]

Our chimney is 6' wide at the base so filling with vermiculite may not be the best option!

The size doesn't rule this out, in practical terms. You'll just need to compare the cost of that much vermiculite with the cost of insulated flue pipes (which aren't cheap).

Unless you know what you're doing, though, I do recommend that you have the stove and flue installed by a specialist company. They will be able to engineer the best solution for you, and issue a proper certificate for the installation. This is useful if/when you come to sell the house.

 

[Fizzer]

Thanks, having looked at it I think we'll find someone through Hetas...