Enlarging Fireplace

Sesshoumaru

Any advise would be greatly appreciated here. I want to open up our fireplace to accommodate a wood pellet stove. I don't really know much about our fireplace, except that it looks very standard and it currently has an open gas fireplace.



The stove itself is quite tall and needs to be refilled with wood pellets from the top. It's dimensions are 504x885x559 mm.



I suppose my question would be, is this a difficult job to enlarge the fireplace? Is the lintel probably too low and would it need to be raised? Should I look for a competent builder to do this work and how much might it cost to get enlarged?

Robbie.G

Sesshoumaru wrote: »

Any advise would be greatly appreciated here. I want to open up our fireplace to accommodate a wood pellet stove. I don't really know much about our fireplace, except that it looks very standard and it currently has an open gas fireplace.



The stove itself is quite tall and needs to be refilled with wood pellets from the top. It's dimensions are 504x885x559 mm.



I suppose my question would be, is this a difficult job to enlarge the fireplace? Is the lintel probably too low and would it need to be raised? Should I look for a competent builder to do this work and how much might it cost to get enlarged?

It's not really a DIY job.
You would need to raise the lintel also the flue gather would need to be raised also.your best bet is to look for a builder.
Hard to tell on price but anything from €700-€1500 impossible to say with out seeing it fully

Sesshoumaru

Thanks for the advise, I'm getting a builder to look at it this week. At the very minimum we will remove the existing fireplace and fireback. After that we'll see how much it might cost to raise the lintel and have the stove partially recessed.

I've done a bit Google searching on this and ask this out of curiosity. Would my chimney have two lintels? A Fireplace lintel and then a primary lintel higher up for spreading the load onto the sides of the chimney structure?

WestieBoy

Sesshoumaru wrote: »

Thanks for the advise, I'm getting a builder to look at it this week. At the very minimum we will remove the existing fireplace and fireback. After that we'll see how much it might cost to raise the lintel and have the stove partially recessed.

I've done a bit Google searching on this and ask this out of curiosity. Would my chimney have two lintels? A Fireplace lintel and then a primary lintel higher up for spreading the load onto the sides of the chimney structure?

Hi Sesshoumaru, did you ever get a price for raising the lintel?
We are thinking of doing the same, opening up our fireplace to put in a stove. We would need to raise the lintel and was curious on how much it would cost.
I have been told it's best avoided if possible, but if it's going to be done get an expert to do it.
We just want to know if it's worth doing. We would prefer a free standing stove, but due to space it would have to be set in to the chimney breast. Otherwise we are looking at an inset stove.