Need suggestions on removing a victorian cast iron fireplace?

[Tim]

I am fitting a closed wood burner and need to remove the existing fireplace and need some advice.

There is a 1040x1040mm cast iron fireplace with 500mm wide fuel holder suspended 150mm off the hearth, above an ash box. I want to remove all this part. It all seems to be in a single piece of ironwork but there are no visible fasteners, unless they are hidden by the handful of Victorian tiles that decorate the sides. This ironwork is surrounded by a 1740x1260mm marble mantle with pillars each side which I want to leave as is.

I am wary of starting the job with a big hammer because I would like to salvage the original fireplace and I don't want to take the risk that some critical part is holding up a part of the chimney stack There's a lot of house above me to fall down..

Any suggestions for me?

[Codswallop]

Difficult to advise without a picture. Does it look as though the marble mantle was fitted last? If so, it will be difficult to remove the cast iron fireplace without damaging the marble.

[noelogara]

Dont remove the fireplace. Its not holding up anything but you would be defeating your objective of getting a better heat output if you do that. Also someday in the future you may wish to revert to the fireplace and it will be intact if that day comes. Think about this post before you do anything.

[Tim]

Thanks, but can you expand on this please? I have been informed up to now that fireplaces have useless efficiency. My reason for wanting a woodburner is to rememdy the fireplace problem that so much of the heat goes up the flue and creates excessive room drafts.

I will, I will keep the original Victorian fireplace insert in my basement.

burners, no?

[Tim]

Yes, I understand that without a picture. I was curious if there was a 'typical' way that these things were built.

Mine seems to be the iron fireplace sitting behind an overlapping 'picture frame' of rectangular section black painted hardwood. That frame itself seems to go behind the marble surround. Hmm, tricky??

[noelogara]

If you place the stove in the flue you will not achieve much extra efficiency in output. The whole point of the exercise is to have the stove planted out on the hearth of the fireplace and that way all the heat is in the room and you have a pipe out of it to let the fumes up the chimney. Think about it.

its my post on an earlier thread. Many people put their stoves into the fireplace and that defeats the main purpose as they lose much of the heat up the chimney. Take a tip from the person who has lived with one in his living room for twenty years. Its warm on the coldest day of the year and its a big room with a high ceiling. Prior to that I couldnt live there in cold weather no matter what fire I put down.

[Tim]

My installation would place the wood burner in the fireplace with at least 50cm of free space above and at the sides. The flue from the burner would come from the back and directly into the chimney flue, there would be no other air path up the chimney as that would be sealed. Any heating of the air around the stove would rise up, hit the slightly sloping top of the inside of the fireplace and move forward into the room, this would draw air into the base of the burner through convection. I would make sure the sides of the fireplace, surrounding the stove, are made of an insulating material so that the stove doesn't pass significant heat into the chimney breast or surrounding walls.

Does this seem ok?

[noelogara]

Actually a stove looks quite good sitting in front of the sealed off fireplace which is intact. You will have a short pipe coming out the back at the top presumably and then a bend up into a metal plate which seals the chimney flue. Is that the idea? It may be tricky to seal that into the bricks which will be uneven and any gap at all will draw a lot of heat. Also cleaning will be more difficult with your way as soot can build up on the flue stopper choking the flue more easily and when you remove it the lot falls down. I always think a stove looks odd plonked inside a flue but maybe thats just me. Outside you have the heat radiating in every direction within the room. Your fireplace looks great as it has a sheet of brass or tin covering it and cut to suit the contour of the fireplace.. You can easily pull it out to clean it which is an annual necessity and you are not stuck into the hearth to start it up or to heat yourself as you can put chairs all around in a wider circle. Its a personal preference that works for me and I could remove it or replace it without any cost.

[Deryck High]

replying to Tim, Deryck High wrote: Why on Earth would you EVER want to remove a lovely cast iron fireplace & put in an awful log-burner? They are ugly, very dated now, & use precious wood (which you would also have to store somewhere).

[Adrian Brentnall]

Why don't people from homeowners hub ever read the date on the messages they they're replying to??? This was posted back in 2006!

[spuorgelgoog]

Heck, I've still got jobs to get round to dating from before then...

Owain

[Brian Gaff]

I know, its probably because the way its done on that awful portal is illogical and really does not explain what you are really doing. People are used on forums to having old threads locked and in archives. the concept of old topics seems to be alien, as does any knowledge of Usenet. Not their fault as the site itself should warn people and explain in big bold writing what you are doing and that posting pictures is pointless as well while we are at it. Brian

[Andrew]

That was the year after ripped out my BAxi Bermuda back boiler and pulled down the kitchen ceiling.

Both jobs still 'pending' ....

[Huge]

My M-I-L died before I got around to fixing her iron.