Best way of re-plastering a re-opened fire place?

[mike]

With two days of SDSing, a couple of trips to the dump and a helluva backache, this...

become this:

job is to repoint the brickwork, although it looks like some of the perps are so thin that they never had mortar between them.

Regarding plastering, what is the best way to get an edge around the opening? I was expecting to be able to fit a plaster stop bead but it seems that the brick corners were originally broken off the vertical sides, so this would leave something of a raggy edge inside:

guess I could try and remake the broken brick edges with something like Tetrion (assuming the inside will ultimately be scrubbed and white emulsioned) and then fit the plaster stop bead. Any other/better options?

Also, what's the best finish for the arch edge? The steel lintel is set back about 1/2" from the brick face:

a piece of stop bead be bent to follow the curve? Would it look better flush with the bottom edge of the steel or with the brickwork so the steel is still visible?

Any ideas why the bricks were originally broken in that way? I assumed there was some kind of wooden staff bead (is that what it's called?) there like on the external corners but I don't see why the original builders would go to that trouble for something that was going to be covered by a contemporary fireplace.

Thanks for any advice.

[Andrew Gabriel]

Don't make the surface finish too good - it will give a better key for the scratch coat plaster.

Given the corners are missing, you might as well use plaster beading (not plasterboard beading) which has mesh wings set into the scratch (under) coat plaster. Then you don't need to repair them (assuming you're plastering into the fireplace opening).

Chimneys often have no damp proof course (because the heat from the fire kept them dry). Check for any damp, and if there is any, you'll need to use waterproof materials, such as stainless steel beading, and sand/cement/waterproofer scratch coat. If it's all bone dry, you can use galvanised beading and gypsom plaster scratch coat.

I did this freehand using an external corner trowel. The steel band lintel provides a nice surface to glide the trowel along, although using external corner trowels is not particularly easy. (It's not really a lintel, it's just to stop the brick arch dropping due to any mortar dropping out in the heat. The brick arch is the support.)

External corners were often bevelled because a sharp plaster corner is very vulnerable to damage (beading is a relatively recent product). However, it seems unlikely the plaster originally ran into the fireplace - that was normally only done with much larger fireplaces.

What are you intending to do with the fireplace?

[mike]

Thanks for the reply, Andrew.

The plan is to install a woodburner. The semi-detached neighbours reopened their mirror-image fireplace last year and the sweep told them the chimney was sufficiently sound that it didn't need lining. I'd like to think this was the case with ours but, having hacked the plaster off (not much hacking involved) and seen the pointing, I find this hard to believe. Does fitting a liner these days involve scaffolding over the house rather than just using a roof ladder?

Regarding plastering into the opening, I was hoping not to --- just to plaster up to the opening and leave the bricks exposed inside.

[Tim Watts]

Not necessarily. Our guy did mine without - but that was a bungalow with flat dormer access.