Widening the fireplace for a wood burner.

[Anonymous]

Hi, we've currently got an open fire with a cast iron fire surround. I'm keen to put a woodburner in it's place but believe that when I clear the fireplace out the dimensions won't allow for the woodburner we've been given to fit with sufficient clearance.

My question is really around how easy is it to increase the dimensions of the fireplace. I imagine that I would need to put a new lintel in to span the proposed dimensions but I am unsure how to do this safely. what level of support is needed and how do you provide it? Can I just remove the bricks and slot the lintel in place quickly ( this sounds bad). Having put the new lintel in place I would hope to remove the old brick sides of the fireplace to make it wider. My intention is to leave about a 10 inch wide pillar of brick at either side of the new fireplace to support the chimney stack.

Does this sound feasible? any advice gratefully recieved.

 

[Anonymous]

When you remove the cast iron fire surround you may find that the fire hole in the chimney breast is almost as big as the outside dimensions of the fire surround. So you could find that this is big enough for your woodburner without further modification.
How old is your house? If it's a period property, then before you start planning to install a wider lintel to make the fire hole bigger, I suggest that you have a good poke around the existing fire hole to see whether it has ever been modified. It's not uncommon to find that existing fireholes have been created by partly bricking up older, larger ones, and that the original lintel or brick arch is still in existence. Once you've taken out the fire surround, take a torch inside the chimney and examine the brickwork carefully for signs of this. If you see anything promising, hack off plaster from the outside of the chimney breast to double-check the situation. If you find an old, wider lintel, and it looks sound, then there should probably be no reason why you can't open up the fire hole to its original dimensions.
As to whether a ten-inch section of wall on each side of an enlarged fire hole (with appropriate lintel) is sufficient to support your chimney, that's not really a question that can be answered here. It needs a structural engineer to look at it and give you his views. A consultation would cost you a few quid, but considerably less than the consequences of getting it wrong!
Once you've gone through all this, if you've still decided to install a wider lintel, post again and I'll explain the procedure for supporting the chimney breast while you do the job.

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the advice David. The house is Victorian so it's possible the original fireplace had bigger dimensions, this would certainly be handy. I will look further into this and see what comes up.

Cheers, Steve.

 

[Anonymous]

On the other hand, it's possible that the cast iron surround is the original one. In which case, it seems a shame to rip it out.

 

[Anonymous]

A fair point, but if he's determined to have a woodburner....