open fireplace and help finding a plasterer.

[jon]

I recently bought a grade ii house built in 1827 and it has an open fireplace in the living room with a dog grate. The back of the fire has exposed bricks which have been badly filled with cement and it looks messy. What is the best way of making this look better. I do not want to fit a register grate but was wondering if the bricks should be painted or rendered or if there are any cast iron backs and sides that would fit.

I also recently removed many layers of woodchip from the hallway leaving a mixture of lime and newish plaster. It has also blown in places and the plaster is attached direct to the brickwork. Do I need lime plaster to replace the blown parts and can the rest just be skimmed with normal plaster or should lime be used throughout. I live in Norwich and have been unable to find anyone wanting to do the work - does anyone know of anyone who in the area who could help?

Many thanks

 

[Moo]

Cue Gareth, methinks.

ps I've sent you a pm, Jon.

 

[Penners]

Jon - with Moo on your side, you're well "plugged in" to the local Naarch PPUK contingent.

As regards your fireplace, have you tried looking around the reclamation yards for an appropriately sized cast iron fireback? Or hunted for a new one?

Here's a typical collection: http://snhtradecentre.co.uk/shop/index.php?cPath=38&osCsid=c9588d2303751f52aaad9ee76b2b01fb
(I offer no personal recommendation - I know nothing about the company).

Without seeing the plasterwork that you've described, it's quite difficult for an expert (let alone an ungifted amateur like me) to give you definitive advice about what to hack off, allow to fall off, and/or patch. As a broad principle, however, you're always strongly advised to use lime plaster within a period property, in order to manage damp more effectively. I certainly would not skim over the whole lot with gypsum plaster.

The perfect solution would probably be to remove all the gypsum, plus any blown lime plaster, and then to patch up with lime. But on a substrate of brick this depends very much on whether the gypsum will detach itself without causing damage to the brickwork.

 

[jon]

Thanks for all advice - Luckily I spoke to a builder today who was doing some stuff at our office - he has done lime plastering before (at St. Andrews Hall) and whilst he claims to be no expert is more than happy to do the work.

 

[FamilyWiggs]

I recently bought a grade ii house built in 1827

So presumably the CO needs to be consulted on plastering, etc?

 

[jon]

My first step was to speak to CO to discuss the work and see if they had a list of approved contractors.

I'm glad no one wants to protect wood chip

 

[Penners]

I'm glad no one wants to protect wood chip

Depends whether the woodchip was in place when it was listed!

 

[jon]

The person who said he could do the lime plastering changed his mind and wanted to pva the lot and gypsum over it. I was not too pleased by this and being unable to find anyone else to do it I took the plunge and decided to plaster the blown bits and missing bits myself. This was sort of successful - rustic would be a good word. Anyway I have three half full 21Kg tubs of lime (3/1 haired - 3/1 unhaired and 3-2 from Mike Wye) going spare if anyone local has a need for these.

 

[Pford75]

Jon,

Thanks for the update. For future reference, I the following contractors are reasonably local (and travel much further afield than Norfolk). They are plasterers by trade, but also undertook some fairly extensive flintwork for me recently.

They work in lime and can also do polished plaster finishes etc. (This is their listing from Yell)

C & M Bartlett
28, Letton Rd, Shipdham, Thetford, Norfolk IP25 7NE
Tel: 01362 820507