amavadia

I am taking an old oversized hearth out before fitting my new Firefox 5 gas stove. The original one is made up of about 5 very chunky stone slabs. I have had a look at getting a T shaped marble hearth but its quite expensive. Ive seen pictures online where people have just tiled the hearth area and was wondering whether this might be an option? Could I just cast a concrete hearth slab to the size I need and then tile it? If so is there a particular type of tile which needs to be used? Ceramic/porcelain? http://4elements.me/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/wood-stove-hearth-ideas-gallery-for-burning-burner.jpg http://teknimak.info/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/slate-tiles-fireplace-slate-tiles-fireplace-a-fresh-slate-hearth-for-wood-stove-google-search-slate-tile-fireplace-design-ideas.jpg The installer manual says it needs to be a non-combustible surface and then goes on to say if there is a concrete surface this could be sufficient. Thanks

The problem isn't heat loss on the hot, its keeping the cold cold. Under 20 degrees to prevent leigionaires. Would a few wraps of hair felt be enough to insulate the cold? There isn't enough clearance to use any kind of foam lagging.

Hi all I am fitting a new hot water pipe to a sink downstairs. The boiler is above the kitchen. Along the back wall of the house, which is where the pipe will go, there is a horizontal 22mm cold water pipe. The new 15mm pipe needs to go down and cross over this pipe in-between the floors of the house. I understand the idea is to keep the hot and cold water pipes a reasonable distance apart and was just wondering what the best way to do the crossover is? I have seen crossover pieces you can buy but putting it over the 22mm pipe, there is very little space and it seems a bit too tight to be good. Are there any other options? Thanks

Great, thanks for the link! I guess it can't be removed :).

Hi All, I have just picked up a Firefox 5 Gas stove. I will be having it installed by a gas engineer but I am preparing the fireplace myself. I took the old fireplace out and am straightening up the brickwork on the sides to fit lining and a new hearthstone. Round the back of the stove, there is a metal box bolted on. There is what looks like a cable connected to it but there doesn't seem to be anything inside the box section itself. Does anyone know what this is and if it can be removed? If it can be removed I can put the fireplace further back inside the chimney so it does not stick out the front as much. Any help would be appreciated. I have attached a picture of the box.

So bit of an update. I ordered the Bean E Doo from the USA. Tried it out in a cupboard under the stairs. It was very difficult to do as it kept running under the skirting boards. It removed about 80% of the mastic which I used cat litter to absorb but 20% is still there. That was after 2 applications. Ive decided not to use it in the rest of the house now so trying to think of other options. The tiles in the test area came up quite easily. Only about 2 broke at all and the rest came up in one piece. I am thinking of using self levelling latex screed. But I was wondering whether I should remove the tiles or just screed over the lot. I'm not convinced the screed would adhere to the tile surface but the mastic under them seems to have a more rough texture which might bond better?

Luckily its not tongue and groove. Just big sheets of chipboard. Ive pulled one end of one board up just using a utility bar and bits of wood to lever it up one nail at a time.

Thanks for the replies. I did think about covering the whole lot but a local floor screening company said it would need to be minimum 65mm - 75mm deep reinforced screed to prevent cracking. The reason I wanted to remove the tiles was for that exact reason... if the screed cracks on top its back to square one with exposure. Also my ceilings are not high so losing 75mm is not really something I want to do let alone the problem i would have with doors etc. and thirdly I've been quoted £1100 for 45m2 of screed installed. My local tip take the equivalent of 3 asbestos 'boards' per month. It needs to be double bagged and labelled as asbestos waste. Ive bought some asbestos bags off the internet. There seems to be a few different products in the USA made from Soy Beans which just dissolves the mastic but I don't seem to be able to find any UK equivalents:

I have large chipboard floorboards in the upstairs of my house which I need to lift to do some piping and wiring. They are quite old so come up easily however, they don't stop at the stud walls but actually go under them. Im clearly going to have to cut the boards along the edge of the walls. My question is how do people do this? If I cut them along the walls, there won't be any support for those edges when I put them back on? Any advice much appreciated. Thanks

Hi All, After a bit of advice. I just bought a house from the 1960s. It was completely original and doesn't even look like the wallpaper or carpet have been changed ever. I lifted up the carpet as I was taking the skirting boards off and discovered these 9" completely black tiles underneath. Im pretty sure they are asbestos and they have a black mastic under them which 100% contains some asbestos as I had sent a sample off to the lab to get tested when I found it under the ceramic tiles in the kitchen. Unfortunately this covers the whole bottom floor. Having researched online these tiles seem to be relatively low risk compared to other asbestos materials and I plan to use a hot air gun and a water spray to lift up the tiles and get rid of them. The mastic I think will be more tricky however so was thinking I would just screen the whole bottom floor of the house using self levelling compound. Has anyone done a similar kind of thing and could recommend what kind of screed I should use? Thanks