Slate Fireplace

[Anonymous]

We live in a 1908 semi in London. In the front room there is a slate fireplace that has been painted white. The insert are '30s tiles and a very inefficient gas fire. We want to replace the insert and fire with something more original for the insert and more efficient for the fire. A fireplace and gas fire supplier has just been round and said that the slate fireplace needs to be removed from the wall to get rid of the tiles and existing fire - that I can understand - but he says that the slate fireplace will not stand for being moved and will just fall apart. Has anyone any experience of this and is it true, or is this guy just trying to sell a new fireplace as well?

 

[Anonymous]

If the slate surround looks dodgy - and it must be said that removing a slate or stone surround will always have an element of risk - then I can't believe it's impossible to get the tiles out from inside the fireplace without disturbing the surround.
Careful work with a chisel should enable you to break the tiles up and prise them off the fireback. If you're then left with an unusable fire back, I suggest you break that up too, in order to get it out.
It's unlikely that you'll be able to retro-fit a new moulded fire back with the surround in place, but it should be possible to construct one with fire bricks mortared with fire clay. Be sure that you pack any space behind the new fireback with rubble bit by bit as you're building it up.

 

[Anonymous]

Long time since I've had anything to do with these but I seem to remember that they are stuck together with plaster of paris. So, it should not be impossible to reassemble once removed. Assuming, of course, that you don't break it getting it out!
What I do definitely remember is that some of these were painted 'faux marble' and it may be possible to remove the white gloss and expose the marble effect - check it out. Nice bit of decorative history to hang on to if you can. Mike.

 

[jess marley]

It sounds like your fitter is just trying to get away with the easiest job for him/her, which will inevitably be a bit of a demolition job. If you get a proper gas plumber to seal off the supply to the fire, it'd be well worth taking the time yourself to remove the surround. You'll give it more of a chance of survival than a jobbing plumber, I would think.

 

[Lime]

Coo! This thread is a blast from the past.
The thread's job is long gone and done.

The slate or marble fireplaces are held together with plaster of paris as mike says.
It is easy to make repairs once the fireplace is off the wall.
Usually the fireplace has been fixed to the wall using plaster of paris.
They used plaster of paris like glue and it did the job.