getting a stove installed

krudmonkey

hi all,

We recently renovated our house and are looking to have a stove installed in our sitting room. It's been a pain, with nobody seemingly wanting to do the actual job..

- the builder who did the reno (built an extension, rewired, replumbed, plastered and painted, fitted central heating, new kitchen etc) said he couldn't plaster the opening around the fireplaces (2).

- we approached several companies about supply and fit of stove. Aften getting prices from 2k to 4k we settled on BPM supplies. However they need the opening plastered, and will only supply and fit the stove/flue/hearth, not working with plastering the opening.

- a plasterer we rang (the only contact we had) said he'd do it, but didn't really know what to do as, despite doing plastering for 40 years, he'd never done a sand/cement finish. So he said he'd do it if we had absolute no other alternative...

Does anyone here have experience with getting a stove installed? It's been a pain in the ar*e so far for us and anything but straight forward so any contacts or advice would be much appreciated.

The opening has some concrete protruding down from the old back boiler connection, which we'd need to have removed/chisseled away too..

(hope these pictures are OK, I've never posted pics here before...)

Calahonda52

So you want the three inside faces and the head of the fireplace plastered in sand cement to make a neat opening to fit a free standing stove in?
Is that correct?

krudmonkey

Yep that's exactly it!

Once this is done I can paint it myself (same colour as the rest of the room)

What sort of stove ?
I tiled the inside of mine.
I also bought the stove and liner etc from BPM and they were very good.no messing
They have some good youtube videos that show how different installations are done if you need ideas.

krudmonkey

This Henley 8kw one...

https://bpmsupplies.ie/products/henley-sherwood-stove-8kw?variant=40490132692

As Calahonda said we just want the 3 walls around and one above it plastered so we can paint it and get it looking neat before the stove is installed.

BPM seem good, but the fact that they won't do the prep and don't know of any plasterers who would is a bit weird, no?

And the only plasterer I know is reluctant to do it, so might be one for tradesman.ie unless anyone on here has any contacts or suggestions?

Hard to see from the photos but are you sure you have enough room for it ?
I had to make my opening bigger before making it tidy .
Even at that I had to vent out the back pushing the stove out.

krudmonkey

yep definitely - 92cm wide, 103cm high and 45cm deep.

Rows Grower

I'd run a mile from that plasterer you have been in touch with to be honest, I'd second what Brownfinger got done and get a tiler to sort it out.

krudmonkey

yeah seems so (unbelievably) odd that a plasterer be in the game for 40 years and has never done a stove area.

We don't want to tile the ope though, but paint the same colour as the rest of the room. Seems like it should be standard enough?

like this:

daveville30

You can get sheets of fire brick vermiculite just cut it to size and adhesive it into position. You can get loads of designs that look like tiles

TheW1zard

We wanted this but shyed away from it as it would have doubled our budget.
That said, the company had no problem doing it.
We would had to raise the lintel and structural works so we didnt bother.
The company was based in ballymount..

Fine Cheers

Is a fire rated plasterboard an option skimmed or tape / joint as opposed to sand/cement ?

Rows Grower

You could also use fireproof plasterboard, you don't really need a plasterer to do the job, any capable handyman would be able to do it.

krudmonkey

Unfortunately BPM will only fit on a cement/sand finish - not board. They were adamant about this!

daveville30

Plaster has a tendency to crack with heat I'm sure there is some high temp stuff or render that would work

ZX7R

Fire slab with mushrooms, tape and use a heat resistant joint filler.
Sand and cement render would crack and come losse over time.
You can also use fire retardant rendering but you will be hard pushed to find a plaster who would have experience in using such materials.
One other suggestion is the installation of a sut box .easier access for cleaning of the chimney.
Can't really tell by the pictures was the original concrete fire back removed.
If it was the fire sand that surrounds the flew might need to be replaced.
The quotes you received for installation of the stove and finished details seem reasonable, it's not an easy job.
If it was myself I would get visual quotes from specialised companies and tell them the stove you have picked.
Looking at the pictures and the stove you picked I think you will require widening of the whole and that could require changing of the concrete plinth that would cross over the existing opening .

Rows Grower

krudmonkey wrote: »

Unfortunately BPM will only fit on a cement/sand finish - not board. They were adamant about this!

If it was me I'd be telling BPM do it the way I want it done or toodle pip.

You surely can find a handyman that will do what you need done, it's not a complicated or big job to be fair.

Fine Cheers

When you say 'on' do you mean just the base that will support the stove ?
I would have thought the surrounds shouldn't be an issue for installer ?
Have you a better photo standing back from the fire place ?

krudmonkey

krudmonkey wrote: »

Unfortunately BPM will only fit on a cement/sand finish - not board. They were adamant about this!

Do you think they want to cut corners?
surely they know what works as they fit loads of them.

krudmonkey

BrownFinger wrote: »

Do you think they want to cut corners?
surely they know what works as they fit loads of them.

I don't think so to be honest.

The said (and I quote):

"I don't do recommendations I'm afraid so you will need a plasterer/builder to do this side of work"

When the plasterer came back saying we could use "pink board", BPM responded saying:

"Nope pink board cannot be used as its only fire retardant for 30 minutes
Cement board and heat resistant plaster can be used but sand and cement is the prefered".

The plasterer isn't familiar with sand a cement, and so I find myself stuck. I just bloody want a stove installed but amn't getting much help from any "professionals" I've tried to get to help...

krudmonkey

DIY KING wrote: »

When you say 'on' do you mean just the base that will support the stove ?
I would have thought the surrounds shouldn't be an issue for installer ?
Have you a better photo standing back from the fire place ?

I would have thought so too...

Here are some pics throughout the process so far...


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Fine Cheers

Love the blue walls !
I can see what you are planning to do and it will look great.
Think you need to shop around as I'm sure they are some installers will do exactly what you want. The 8kw Henley should be available extensively. Have BPM been out to view ?
We got an insert stove put into where we had double doors (between living and sitting) so a lot of slabbing and partition work, long ss flue, block base for stove etc.
The installer working for the stove supplier (both Westmeath) was a handyman that could do nearly anything. Total cost for us was 4k so we paid a premium for getting the supplier to do all but very happy with end result and done in a week.

anacc

You can use vermiculite board (https://www.mdoshea.ie/scamol-36-x24) instead of plasterboard slabs or sand/cement skim. This shouldn't be an issue for the installer, as they said they won't accept plasterboard due to fireproofing reqs but vermiculite board is actually used for fireproofing. You can line the inside of the alcove with this by using a fireproof adhesive then paint over it with a suitable heat resistant paint.

daveville30

Skamolex or vermiculite panels are the easiest option cant see it staying white for very long if you plastered then painted.

john_johnerson

We got that exact job done about a month ago. Stove supplier/fitter did the lot from removing fire place, breaking out the chimney breast, installation, lining, plastering etc.

He used fireboard skimmed with fireproof plaster in the ope around the stove. Took longer to go off and is slightly rougher than standard skimcoat but it's barely noticeable.

I can recommend someone who will do the lot if you want to PM me. Or if you want to know any more about how ours was done.

Our builder didn't want to know about the installation either. The regs are fairly tight and he reckons you're better off getting someone in the business to do it.

That's going to be a class job.
The old fireplace was very cool too.