Tudor fireplace restoration...

[Kearn]

Thanks Mickey. The Bristolian in me still doesn't pronounce everything correctly.

Haha! That I can sympathise with - after a few too many glasses of vino / cider, I still occasionally slip into a drawl - bit more bumpkin that true Brissle though...!

 

[Kearn]

It has been a few weeks, mostly because we escaped to Alsace for 10 days to drink wine and eat cheese and since we've been back, the room behind the stack has taken a couple of weeks of digging down 2 feet and shifting tons of concrete, soil and flint, but that's another story...!

However, we are now structurally finished with restoring/repairing/rebuilding the fireplace to original dimensions.

A teaser from the rear first if you will...this is in the old animal shelter, soon to be our entrance hall (once it has a floor!), so you will walk around this on entry. The section of rough temp laster on the right is covering the base of a Victorian stack crudely resting on the Tudor one. This will be coming out, but not until Spring - we had thought of pinning it, above the ceiling, but it was too tricky and to be fair the false ceiling is due to be removed to expose another metre of so of height and the lovely roof truss. But for the next 6 months or so, we will live with it...


Whoever built our chimney, had a certain style - there are ledges all over - 3 in total on each side (also above ceiling) and one on the rear face high also. There is also a ledge on the internal rear wall of the fire.

The rear face plinth is also high, at 6 or maybe 7 courses above original floor height. It was certainly well built, brick all the way down to foundation stones. It also seems that it was built with the cottage rather than after, based on the frame and lack of any evidence of supporting posts on this wall. Plus the flat and wide ledges with no traces of angled lime to prevnt pooling water, imply it was possibly never external, as does no trace of lime render, just limewash which fits with the room on the rear being an animal shelter.

While a lot of the bricks on the rear needed to be removed (as per damp dark pointing), they have all been put back in, with a bit of bond tidying and some pinning around the crack where it has all fallen to the left.

 

[Kearn]

..and the front!

I think this is the first time the carpenter's car jack has been used, and to good effect!


the joint is perfectly tightly pinched, and also pegged to replace the burned away section of cross beam.

we are just waiting on the hearth to dry before the stove can go back in - plus looking for a 5foot by 6inch flue pipe which is proving evasive at that length - any suggestions??

but the final finish looks brilliant! And we are just going through the final deep clean before reinstating our living room, 7.5 weeks after the start of a '4week job'!! :lol:


Ok, Ok, there is a door to go back up onthe left and the right hand side wall needs reshaping then plastering, but for now we will live with that until spring when the room behind is back on the agenda!

this is where we started...

 

[paulc]

we are just waiting on the hearth to dry before the stove can go back in - plus looking for a 5foot by 6inch flue pipe which is proving evasive at that length - any suggestions??

If you are looking for black vitreous enamel, then I think 1200mm is going to be about the longest you'll find off the shelf. e.g. https://www.fluedirect.co.uk/connecting-stove-pipes/7-150-c-1200-vitreous-enamel-150mm-1200mm-length-matt-black.html

If you want stainless steel, then your options are quite a bit more open - Anything up to 24 feet and wall thicknesses up to 7/8", although I suspect 6 inch NB s/s pipe would be a bit over the top. Aalco do a range of metric stainless steel pipes of 150mm bore & 1.5mm to 4mm wall, but you may need to purchase a full 6 metre length. Alternatively, give Jacob a call and discuss your requirement with them (they may even be able to do vitreous enamel in the length you want).

One downside to the stainless steel options mentioned is that they don't have the swaged ends that "off the shelf" flues have. Not a major problem if you have someone that does industrial ductwork in the neighbourhood.

 

[88v8]

Stainless can be painted black with stove paint - aerosol - key with 100 grit - it doesn't flake off. Not quite the same as vitreous, but......

That's a job to be proud of. And worthwhile if only to get shot of the brick hearth and those ghastly carriage lamps :}

Ivor

 

[plasticpigeon]

That is a fantastic job, wonderful vision and beautifully executed, hats of to you!

 

[Flyfisher]

Lovely job and a great improvement.

While I agree with Ivor's point about the improvement gained by removing the brick hearth, you might want to check the implications when reinstalling the stove as it looks to me as if you may not be able to achieve the specified clearances for building regulations, which might give you some certification issues. The stove installation manual should give specific figures.

Some hearth info here: http://www.stovefittersmanual.co.uk/articles/hearth-regulations/

and combustibles info here: http://www.stovefittersmanual.co.uk/articles/rules-for-wood-burning-stoves/

 

[Kearn]

If you are looking for black vitreous enamel, then I think 1200mm is going to be about the longest you'll find off the shelf. e.g. https://www.fluedirect.co.uk/connecting-stove-pipes/7-150-c-1200-vitreous-enamel-150mm-1200mm-length-matt-black.html
Alternatively, give Jacob a call and discuss your requirement with them (they may even be able to do vitreous enamel in the length you want).

thanks Paul, will chase both down and see what we can do - stainless just won't look right, and as Ivor says, it can be painted, but with the fitment challenges also, I'll try to find what I'm after before making. It might be that the register plate has to come down a foot...

 

[Kearn]

Stainless can be painted black with stove paint - aerosol - key with 100 grit - it doesn't flake off. Not quite the same as vitreous, but......

yeah, its in the back of mind, but I haven't looked hard enough yet to give up on a vitreous option...!

That's a job to be proud of. And worthwhile if only to get shot of the brick hearth and those ghastly carriage lamps :}

It is, cheers - its been a messy and disruptive 8 weeks, but well worth it, and frankly given the British summer we have missed the fire!! The final reveal has crept up on me really being in it daily, but a quick look back through before and progress photos shows the huge difference! Just the room behind to get on with now, then pause...

 

[Kearn]

Lovely job and a great improvement.

While I agree with Ivor's point about the improvement gained by removing the brick hearth, you might want to check the implications when reinstalling the stove as it looks to me as if you may not be able to achieve the specified clearances for building regulations, which might give you some certification issues. The stove installation manual should give specific figures.

Some hearth info here: http://www.stovefittersmanual.co.uk/articles/hearth-regulations/

and combustibles info here: http://www.stovefittersmanual.co.uk/articles/rules-for-wood-burning-stoves/

thanks for the links, very helpful, although I have checked and different places do still state slightly different distances! our stove is actually reasonably small and heart is laid on sand/multiple previous hearths!, so the only distances to really consider are:
1. front of stove to floorboards, here we are 210mm clear - I've read from 200m to 300mm is required here.
2. flue connector to beam, where directly we are too close, measured horizontally, but from the stove its self we have over 600mm clearance. So it may be that a double walled connector pipe is used to clear the beam. thanks

 

[Kearn]

That is a fantastic job, wonderful vision and beautifully executed, hats of to you!

thanks!! finally... it feels like it has been a while coming. But at least we have a living room back again and have decamped from the kitchen and can sit and stare at this beautiful brick gaping void! soon the stove can go back in and it will look complete with logs stacked. plus I'm coming to the end of a few days deep cleaning now - there is nothing like the dust from a fireplace!!

just the room at the rear to deal with now...I do wonder sometimes why I started pulling on that annoying thread.... :roll:

 

[Flyfisher]

Lovely job and a great improvement.

While I agree with Ivor's point about the improvement gained by removing the brick hearth, you might want to check the implications when reinstalling the stove as it looks to me as if you may not be able to achieve the specified clearances for building regulations, which might give you some certification issues. The stove installation manual should give specific figures.

Some hearth info here: http://www.stovefittersmanual.co.uk/articles/hearth-regulations/

and combustibles info here: http://www.stovefittersmanual.co.uk/articles/rules-for-wood-burning-stoves/

thanks for the links, very helpful, although I have checked and different places do still state slightly different distances! our stove is actually reasonably small and heart is laid on sand/multiple previous hearths!, so the only distances to really consider are:
1. front of stove to floorboards, here we are 210mm clear - I've read from 200m to 300mm is required here.
2. flue connector to beam, where directly we are too close, measured horizontally, but from the stove its self we have over 600mm clearance. So it may be that a double walled connector pipe is used to clear the beam. thanks

Yes, the distances do seem to vary depending on the source, so it's worth talking to the chosen stove installer before finalising things so you know what they are happy to sign off.

We opened up a similar fireplace and the critical distance seemed to be 13 inches from the front of the stove, so we had to extend the hearth out from the wall by about six inches. This was no big deal as we had to re-play the hearth anyway as the previous one was just loose bricks on bare earth. Even so, it was far better than the previous intrusion into the room of around 18 inches, which you can see here as the large hole in the photos below.

The other consideration (apparently) is that the change from floor to hearth must be clearly and easily distinguishable. Actually, our installer admitted that although this requirement is usually interpreted as requiring the hearth to be slightly higher than the floor, this is not necessarily the case and, for example (he said), a change from carpet to tiles is acceptable. I asked why this is a requirement and he said he thought it was so that anyone with poor eyesight could detect when they were getting close to the fireplace. The fact that they might not notice the step up at all and therefore actually trip INTO the fireplace seems to be less important!

OK, that's largely anecdotal, but the main point is that and early discussion with your chosen installer is a good idea so that they can have no excuses when it comes to signing things off. Normally, I'd be happy to do the whole thing myself and not bother with certification, but you can bet that an insurance company would want to see the certificate in case of a claim for fire damage!

Anyway, it sounds as if you're aware of the issues and are on top of such things - and again, lovely looking result.

 

[Kearn]

Wow! That's a lovely find...I did hope for some more detail inside ours, but being quite early it's simple and straight. With the exception of all the ledges!!

 

[Kearn]

time has flown by and believe it or not, we passed all of winter without getting the burner back into the fireplace and simply having a lovely big open noisy hole in our room over christmas!! :lol: long story and not worth the effort... but the good bit is that in the next few days it will be back in and providing heat again, so even if we have an imminent heatwave, there will be fires soon regardless!!

a few pics to follow once we are back in business, finally!!

 

[Kearn]

Finally, with a little help from our pup,

we have got around to reinstalling the woodburner!!

We ended up joining a 3ft pipe to the previous 2ft, to give enough room to still stand up inside the fireplace and appreciate the beauty. Also the join cannot be seen when sitting in the room.


This also allowed us to fit the register plate high up enough to leave one of the old nails exposed, which countless poor children have used as a step to clamber up and sweep the flue!

 

[Kearn]

So, as spring has now started to approach, and all of that snow has gone, we have finally had our first fire in the restored fireplace!!!


Time to heave in a ton of logs to stack alongside and shake off the surface moisture so we can stubbornly have fires throughout summer too!!!