Is This A Daft Idea???

[Alan Darlington]

Hi Folks,

I need to extend our living room chimney breast by about 60mm to centralise our new fireplace around the opening - the breast is only about 150mm deep the most. I have been thinking of ways to do it and have come up with the idea of using a piece of 'L' section plastic similar to plastic soffit. This should be relatively easy to fit and will give a nice crisp edge to the corner of the breast. Hopefully it won't swell or expand with changes in temp/humidity etc. It will also aid running cables inside it. Ideally I'm looking for a supplier in the Wirral/Chester/Liverpool area. It needs to be about 30mm by 150mm section by about 2.5 M and about 6-10 mm thick. Is this a daft idea? Has anyone got any other ideas?

Thanks in advance,

Alan

[Christian McArdle]

Build a frame out of timber. This will be simple, if you choose the right thickness of wood, you could just use a thick batten to gain 60mm. Apply plasterboard. Paint. Rejig cornicing and skirting.

Cost? Very little. Probably change out of twenty quid. Tools required? A saw, a hammer, a screwdriver, a drill and a paintbrush.

It would be much stronger than using a thin piece of plastic.

Christian.

[Alan Darlington]

"stuart noble" >aid running cables inside it. Ideally I'm looking for a supplier in

Thanks again for all your helpfull advice. I have obtained an off-cut piece of soffit for £5 + vat. The long side is 20mm thick and the short side is 10mmthick - all quite rigid in fact. I always intended to fit the plastic to a timber frame. There will be a 25mm gap between the short side of the 'L' section and the metal strip running down the corner of the chimney breast. This should be easy to fill and should allow for any discrepancies between the two edges. The nice clean edge of the L section is far better than I could produce in wood and that's what made me think of it in the first place. The plastic will be on the end of the breast at least 2 feet from the fireplace opening so no problems with heat etc. As they say Necessity is the Mother of Invention. I can only try. I'll let you know how it works out. Sorry about mixing imperial and metric.

Regards,

Alan

[N. Thornton]

Sure hope its self extinguishing. I wonder what the insurers will decide.

Regards, NT