I'm removed a gas inset fire (Wonderfire) from our existing marble fireplace and have bought a solid fuel grate to replace it. However, the base of the hearth (i.e. the horizontal surface inside the opening of the fireplace) is not concrete but is made of some type of flexible board about 3mm thick which looks like hardboard.
The house is 15 years old and the chimney is of standard construction. The most previous owners removed all the gas installation (was propane LPG cylinder for 2 gas fires) and no pipes are connected to any gas anymore so there is no gas hazard! I'm now wary of lighting an open fire in case the board is combustible, and it seems to have been built in when the fireback was constructed as it runs under the bottom edge of the stone fireback. Any previous open fires in our houses had cement or metal hearth bases.
Question is shoud I remove the board (which doesn't look that straightforward to do), or is it likely to be fireproof and if it is fireproof why wasn't cement simply used in its place?
Any ideas anyone?
Cheers,
Alan