Fireplace fitting queries

[BigWallop]

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A bit of plasterboard stuck across the chimney shoulder, or shelf, should be enough to stop debris falling on to the fire casing. Or is the drawer flap still in the chimney ? The drawer is just a piece of cast plate that slides across the shelf near the top of the fire opening.

To protect the mantel shelf you could use newspaper and masking tape instead of polythene sheet. The paper is easier scored with a knife and peeled off than polythene. Overlap a couple of layers to give a bit more protection, but put the second layer just out from the wall a bit so it it's easier to peel away after the plaster is done.

[Lobster]

Hi

Further to my recent post about installing a gas fire in a blocked-off chimney breast, I'm afraid I've gone for one of those electric flame-effect fires with built-in fan heater - much easier and cheaper to fit!

The kit I've bought includes a timber mantelpiece, laminate back panel, electric fire to be recessed into the chimney breast. (It's a Wickes own-brand but looks similar to this one:

(or 1. The instructions say that if fitted into a chimney breast, the chimney is best blocked off. Mine has been removed in the past at roof level; ie there are now roof tiles over where the chimney stack was, although all chimney breasts are still intact. There's still debris and soot coming down the chimney though, which needs to be stopped. Is there a preferable method to shoving loads of newspaper up the throat of the chimney? Although the heated part of the new electric fire is just a fan heater on the front (and it can be installed flat against a normal wall, I just feel a bit uneasy about all that loose newspaper stuffed behind the fire.

1. Should this chimney breast routinely have an air vent fitted given that it's blocked off at the top (there wasn't one before, and I can't see any sign of damp now...)

1. Am I best to roughly make good the chimney breast and fit the mantelpiece before the plasterers come (they are doing the whole room anyway, before I emulsion the lot), or do I let them prepare a nice flat chimney breast for me to install the mantelpiece against? I think I prefer the first, because otherwise I'll mess up the plaster finish with the recessed brackets. However, from experience when I did this before, I remember protecting the mantelpiece from damage by the plasterers by using polythene sheeting and masking tape; when they'd finished I had a devil of a job picking out bits of masking tape and polythene from the crack at the interface between the mantelpiece and dry plaster! Is there a better, tried-and tested way to protect the mantelpiece from plaster?

Thanks

David