Fireplace and hearth revmoal

1hnr79jr65

Hi,

I am looking for advice on options with fireplace and hearth removal in our living room.

We have a large hearth fireplace which takes up aprox 14ft² which i would like to remove as we will never be lighting a fire. The old back boiler has been drilled out and is not functional and we have recently gotten a new combi boiler into the house with heating upgrade with grant.

The following 3 options are what we see for use of this space.

1. Remove all the tiles, plaster/skim the area and paint over.
2. Remove the hearth and fireplace and block up the access to the flue with a vent.
3. Remove chimney breast up to the attic area and fireplace and hearth. (current bedroom above living room is pending some work including replacing floorboards so removing chimney breast would not be much of challenge)

I would be most in favor of option 2 and the costs for option 3 would be substantially more i would imagine.

If anyone has any experience of of these options and costs/issues involved in completing i would appreciate input.

BrokenArrows

Depends on your goals i suppose.

If you really want/need the extra space then option 3.

If just a little extra space then 2.

And if purely for ascetic reasons then 1.

Your right that option 3 will be expensive but you should get some quotes to know the true cost.

Calahonda52

3: will require chimney removal all the way right out through the roof, thanks to Newton .

BrokenArrows

Calahonda52 wrote: »

3: will require chimney removal all the way right out through the roof, thanks to Newton .

You dont have to once its correctly supported in the loft.

GreeBo

3) is also going to probably require re-working of the joists in the upstairs rooms as I guess they are using the breast today...

GreeBo

BrokenArrows wrote: »

You dont have to once its correctly supported in the loft.

How do you support a chimney breast in an attic?

BrokenArrows

GreeBo wrote: »

How do you support a chimney breast in an attic?

Probably some gallow brackets but depends on where the chimney is.

You would need to consult an engineer to get it correctly calculated.

GreeBo

BrokenArrows wrote: »

Probably some gallow brackets but depends on where the chimney is.

You would need to consult an engineer to get it correctly calculated.

I think nowadays they recommend you use steels rather than gallow brackets...so the cost will probably be prohibitive

Calahonda52

BrokenArrows wrote: »

You dont have to once its correctly supported in the loft.

I agree but it is often cheaper to strip it out:I normally charge enough if asked to design supports to make full removal cheaper:)

1hnr79jr65

Calahonda52 wrote: »

I agree but it is often cheaper to strip it out:I normally charge enough if asked to design supports to make full removal cheaper:)

Any ideas of what costs i could expect for options 2 and 3 ?

The thing about option 1 is it is something i can do and i am comfortable doing, the other options i would prefer to rely on a professional however cost is the major factor here.

1hnr79jr65

BrokenArrows wrote: »

Depends on your goals i suppose.

If you really want/need the extra space then option 3.

If just a little extra space then 2.

And if purely for ascetic reasons then 1.

Your right that option 3 will be expensive but you should get some quotes to know the true cost.

I dont need the space the whole up but i would definitely appreciate the 14ft² squared (put meters squared in first post by mistake.)

It would be the difference of an armchair or a 2 seater couch in living room.

1hnr79jr65

Anyone can recommend someone in Louth that can carry out this work ?

KevinCavan

Don’t go breaking my hearth

Shoobs86

Hi everyone - I'm sorry if I am hogging the thread but since it's a very similar topic I was hoping someone would have advice. I bought a house recently and while we were replacing the flooring we found what looks like the remenants of an old fireplace. We now suspect that this fireplace has simply been covered over with the new plasterboard, but possibly not blocked up correctly, because the room is freezing and damp in that exact spot. However - there is no chimney on the roof in this spot.

I'm wondering now if they removed the entire chimney breast - which is possible - but the damp and cold problem is bothering me.

I am thinking I will need to remove the plaster and investigate... just wondering if anyone has experienced something similar?

listermint

You will have to remove the plasterboard to check.

You should be removing it anyway to check the origin of the damp. That could be a major problem