Is my chimney ok?

[Chris Cowley]

The chimney in our kitchen has been opened up to a height of 1470mm at some point in the distant past. Unfortunately, whoever did it chose to line all sides of the opening with chipboard and this hasn't weathered particularly well over the years. So I'm ripping the chipboard out and lining with plasterboard which I will skim over.

I have no reason at all to doubt that the chimney is sound. There's a hardwood lintel across the front and no signs of historic movement.

However, being the paranoid sort that I am, I just thought I'd take a couple of snapshots on my phone and post them up as it's the only opportunity I'm ever likely to get to check that it hasn't been bodged in the past.

http://217.158.135.178/IMAGE_00041.jpg (view of the chimney breast) http://217.158.135.178/IMAGE_00042.jpg (view looking up the opening)

So, group, does everything look okay up there?

TIA,

[Chris Cowley]

I wrote my previous message in a hurry as someone was waiting to see me. What I forgot to add was, I know the pictures are rubbish but is there anything in particular I should check for while I've got the old chipboard off? There are some bricks at the back that I think form the side of the flue that don't look particularly well-supported, but I have no idea if that's a cause for concern or not.

I really know nothing of such matters beyond the blindingly obvious.

[Phil L]

Don't worry about the loose bricks, you can pull down any loose ones when you remove all the chipboard and before you plasterboard it, any bricks above those will be keyed into either the back of the chimney or the chimney breast itself, just don't go ragging it with a lump hammer - what won't pull out by hand can stay in, removing these is just to reduce the chance of them falling onto the p-board and damaging it. What to check for? - dead birds (obviously) and feel the chipoard to see if it's got damp, if it has you may need to redress this WRT your p-board, maybe go for a waterproof variety?...also why not put a few spotlamps under there to make a bit of a feature? - if it's not some kind of feature it's merely wasted space and could be boarded over flush with the rest of the chimney breast.

[Andrew Gabriel]

Why did the chipboard fail? is the chimney damp?

I opened up and plastered the inside of a fireplace a few years ago. The rear of the fireplace was only a single skim brick outside wall, and presented a risk of a cold area which would form condensation. To prevent this, I used 1" celotex at the back behind the plasterboard. For the inside sides, I did a sand and cement scratch (under-) coat to provide a better moisture resistant barrier than plaster scratch coat would, with a finish plaster coat on top. (Chimney breasts often don't have good damp proofing as the fire keeps them dry, but that obviously doesn't work when they don't get used for fires anymore.)

I also dug out the floor in the fireplace which was just earth and rubble, and very damp. I lined the area with damp membrane, half filled the base with vermaculite and topped off with sand and cement (both somewhere between 6-9" thick).

It's now a nice dry area for the Hi-Fi.

Bricks look a bit loose up the flue, like they could fall out.

[Chris Cowley]

Okay, thanks. There are very few loose bits of bricks left up there as most of them had fallen in the post and were sitting on top of the chipboard (along with a bucketful of soot, of course). Everything else looks pretty solid ATM.

My main concern, not really knowing anything about the structural aspects, is that all the necessary support is there and that the chipboard wasn't covering up any horrors. It sounds like everything is pretty-much in order though, which is a relief.

I'm slightly paranoid about chimney breasts, as the town I live in is full of victorian terraces like mine and I keep hearing horror stories about DIYers who have just taken out lumps of their chimneys that are getting in their way without any regard for what they may be supporting.

Oh yes! I have grand plans for that wall! There'll be kitchen units going right along the wall (modified to fit around the chimney) with the worktop cut around the sides of the chimney. I haven't decided what to do about lighting yet, but LV spotlights do sound like rather a nice idea.

Cheers.

[Chris Cowley]

My use of the word "weathered" was misleading, sorry. The chipboard is basically fine, but just a bit grotty around the edges where it's been bashed-into over the years. One of the sides was also not completely vertical, which has been bugging me since the day we moved in.

I've given everything a good shake and what's there is solid, although there are a couple of bricks that have no visible support - i.e. although they're firmly in place, they're floating and not keyed into either the back wall or the chimney. I think I'll mix up some mortar and splash it about a bit just to make sure nothing works loose in the future.

Many thanks,