Is it structural?

[noj]

The bedroom fireplace has (had?) a sort of register plate made out of corrugated iron. It's plastered into the back and sides and was nailed onto the bressumer at the front. Above it seems to be filled with plaster and 'stuff'. The flue, at some point long after this, has been lined with poured lightweight cement which must serve to hold the stuff in place too.

I'm wondering if I can just cut the iron out, probably skim the underside for cosmetic puposes or if I should screw it back into it's original position?

In situ it's not very pretty since the leading edge is visible and I'm hoping it's served it's original role of holding the filling in place while whatever sticks it together hardened. But I've some trepidation about taking it away and then having some sort of collapse next time the house moves a bit...

Any better ideas?

A few pics below, the iron is still attached into the back wall and just bent down a bit

 

[MikeG]

I'm confused by your photos, with nothing to orientate myself in them.

Could it be that the corrugated steel is simply the shuttering for some concrete poured in to hold up flue liner and any insulation in the stack? That's the obvious starting point. If the stuff above is concrete, and looks solid, then you can remove the crinkly stuff without too many qualms. If the stuff it is holding up seems to be plaster and ??? then I suggest caution. It could be that someone has bodged it in as a way of holding up a poured insulation such as vermiculite, and removing it will leave you a lot of cleaning up to do. Strictly, the answer to your question is "no, it's not structural", because corrugated steel is not a load-bearing constructional material, but that doesn't mean it is removable without side -effects!

 

[noj]

Thanks. The photos are looking in and up(ish) - most of the white is the back of the fireplace. The black painted square with a cicular hole is the bottom of the flue - all the flues in the house have been completely filled in a similar manner, from top to bottom - and is a lightweight cement (pumice as the aggregate I assume) with a seam free circular flue. The wood you can see is the bottom of the bressumer.

The backfill above the shuttering looks considerably older (and of a pretty random nature) than the poured flue lining and has a lump of iron set in it too, some more pics below...

I suppose the backfill could date back to when the hob grate was installed - it does appear to have daub/clay lumps in it and the corrugated iron plus a bit of cement then subsequently added because it got fairly crumbly. I'm now thinking that it should probably either be re-instated or replaced with something similar (but maybe not so crinkly)

 

[MikeG]

I'm certain that was just shuttering, holding that agglomeration up whilst it set. As it is flapping down now it is clearly performing no current function, so you should be able to safely remove it. The things people do to old houses.....!

 

[MikeG]

Duplicate.

 

[noj]

Think it'll go - if all the backfill drops out at some point it'd be messy but not fundamental. And with the flue filled with the poured concrete I'd hope there wouldn't be a vast accumulation of soot involved