Recently bought a flat in a 1910 tenement block, and as part of its renovation I plan to move the central heating boiler some 50cm higher from its current position so that I can integrate it into one of the new kitchen's wall cabinets.
My question is:
How does one go about blocking the 4" hole that will be left from the current flue? I am not particularly worried about the appearance from the outside as it is not visible at all (no buildings across the road, etc) - just want to make sure that the remains weather-proof..
Is the hole easily reached from outside? Or ably reached from a window? Placing something like a wooden board over the hole from the outside will let you pump sand and cement in the hole from the inside. Remember to leave the cavity clear though. The inside can then be filled in the same sort of way, or just covered with a plaster board patch and made good.
If it's difficult to reach the hole from the outside, then a little tip I picked up many years ago should help you. Cut a piece of ply wood board sheet, any thickness, but the lighter the better, a little larger than the hole. The ply can be either circular or squarish what ever is easier for you. Now cut the ply in half. Now screw some long screws into each half. Poke the ply through the hole, holding on to the screws as you pull it back against the outside of the wall.
While you hold the ply in place against the outside of the wall by pulling on the screw nails, fill the hole with sand and cement. Put string or wire on the nails to hold the ply until the cement cures. Once it's all dried off, untie the string, unscrew the screw nails, let the ply wood fall off into the street. Hole should now be patched flush with the outside of the wall. It should now stay weather tight for as long as the existing stonework does.
The sand and cement mixture should be around 3 sand to 1 cement, and not so wet that it falls out everywhere. A nice firm mixture that holds itself is what you're after.
To make it even simpler, how about hingeing the two halves together with gaffer tape, and securing it with just a hole through each half and a threaded loop of string? Better still, something smooth and easy to pull out afterwards, like strimmer cord.
Remove the bricks around the current flue. Remove the bricks where you want the new flue. But the bricks from the top hole in the bottom hole. Put the bricks from the bottom hole in the top hole. Just an idea.
I get the general idea but why cut the board and faff around with 2 halves? If the hole's not circular you can make a board that'll cover the hole but that you can pass through from the inside. If it is circular then if you can drop a string from the hole to the ground outside you cam attach the board to the string outside and pull it up from inside.
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