Open Fire Places - worth it??

[Zak S]

Hi. The banglow we have recently completed on has a fire place (open) which is relatively small. I have booked a chimney sweep. Had a word with the guy selling stoves and he said to install a stove/logburner I will have to get rid entire stone chimney breast (which seemed to be a bit of BS) but he said I could use the fire place as is. It won't be efficient and oy 20% heating will stay ? Is that correct. What else could be done to this to make it look pretty / more efficient with out any structural work or great deal of structural work? Any d

Advice would be greatly welcome.

[joe90]

Open fireplaces are very inefficient and a permenant  draft,  no a wood stove can be fitted without removing all that stone work (some work required within the “throat”).

[Zak S]

6 hours ago, joe90 said:

Open fireplaces are very inefficient and a permenant  draft,  no a wood stove can be fitted without removing all that stone work (some work required within the “throat”).

Thanks. Assuming I don't want the hassle (in vase its signoficant or expensive) (plus given I might rebuild), is it still not worth having open fire place. I have lots of logs which potentially can be burnt. I realise it might be very inefficient 20-30% compared to stove 70-80% in terms of retaining heat, what could be other issues. If sand it down, paint it, buy grates, basket, dog irons etc and get the sweep done. Can it be made look pretty? Is carrying out work at the throat of the chimney significant work? What does it entail?

[Zak S]

2 minutes ago, Zak S said:

Can it be made look pretty

These guys seems to have lots of stuff but they appear to be expensive.

 

https://www.camelotrealfires.co.uk/fire-grate-fire-canopy

[Gus Potter]

18 minutes ago, Zak S said:

Can it be made look pretty?

Yes you could transform that.

 

I would be minded to remove the low walling to the right. Check the split block / decorative stone is sound then bond it all out in undercoat plaster with some corner beads, plaster skim coat and square it all up apart from the inset bit around the opening. Then stand back and have a look. 

 

Think, how would it look if we continued the cornice round.

 

Next check the flue. That looks like a relatively new house so you may have chimney with proprietory flue blocks, already fully lined.

 

After that you can decide on whether you want to have an open fire or a stove and what inset.. could be tiles and what mantle piece you prefer if any.

 

Lastly there is an old rule of thumb to get your open fire to draw. For single storey you take the opening area of the fire place opening and divide by 8. This gives you the cross sectional area of the flue. For two storey you divide by 9. That is all provided the chimney extends sufficiently above the roof and that you have no large trees nearby or large buildings. If so you need to check chimney height outside and select the right cowl.

 

Hope this helps give you some pointers.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited August 7, 2022 by Gus Potter

[Zak S]

Yes  thanks. I am planning to remove the right hand low wall to just leave the chimney. I like the stone chimney (being different from plain plaster these days), are stone built chimneys too dated?

 

In terms of height, please see attached. The banglow was built in 1960.

 

Also most of large room have a metal vent at the bottom of the wall which it appears can be switched on and off. Not sure if these were for the open fire place of hot air blower system installed in 1970s houses.

[Bonner]

6 hours ago, Zak S said:

Yes  thanks. I am planning to remove the right hand low wall to just leave the chimney. I like the stone chimney (being different from plain plaster these days), are stone built chimneys too dated?

That is a matter of taste but I think it adds character to the room, although there is a fine line between characterful and just naff, the devil is in the detail.

As suggested, get rid of the plinth to the side then you will find out what the vent is for.

[Zak S]

34 minutes ago, Bonner said:

get rid of the plinth

Thanks. Pardon my ignorance. By plinth do you low wall on the right hand side (encircled above im yesterday message). By the way the vent is as circled in the image. Do you think it has any relationship with the fireplace.

 

34 minutes ago, Bonner said:

I think it adds character to the room,

Once low wall is gone, it's gone, right? I might just end up creating work here in case there is some thing behind it. Plastering is book for the entire room for Wed next week and we have removed all the wall papar but still not sure about the low wall on the right hand side.

 

Someone suggested to use the similar stones  to create three sided (bottom/up/side) enclosure for the TV. We are planning to hang TV on the wall there in any case. The appetite is to do minimum but the most value added work (by value I don't mean £), I mean functionality/aesthetics etc.

 

 

Edited August 8, 2022 by Zak S

[Bonner]

41 minutes ago, Zak S said:

Pardon my ignorance. By plinth do you low wall on the right hand side

Yes, that bit should go

 

43 minutes ago, Zak S said:

Someone suggested to use the similar stones  to create three sided (bottom/up/side) enclosure for the TV

That’s crossing the fine line I mentioned … by a country mile 😬