Opening bricked up fireplace - question

[Ben]

Hi - I was thinking of opening up this fireplace. The flue is a bit suspect, but the cavity would be a nice feature.

I removed the plaster to have a look, and two things became apparent. One was someone has laid the ringmain across the opening (annoying but solvable)

The other is the reason for this post. The cavity has a lintel, as can be seen through the old vent hole, and the cavity seems in quite good nick. The width of the cavity is the same as the width of the new bricked in section save for two little "tabs" half way down. If I were to remove these tabs it would seem to leave some unsuported brickwork

- I've stopped for the mo and someone is having a look next week, but does anyone here have any thoughts?

Photos are here:

can see the ringmain, and above it the two "tabs" sticking out. They are wider than the cavity behind, but if I were to remove the infilling bricks it would seem to leave some unsupported original brickwork...

Ben

[tiscali]

I'd remove more plaster to see if there is a brick arch above the lintel. I'd remove all the bricks under the lintel as well. Fireplace may have been reduced in size at some point. Was it a kitchen fireplace? Bricks that were keyed in might have been damaged during removal of cast iron range? Or some other built-in feature.

[Ben]

The building is 1920's, but I don't know what it has previously been used for. The time it was built would seem to suggest a large kitchen fire is unlikely though. Unfortunately, other than the area shown, the brickwork is covered in a concrete render, making removal difficult. However, there is no indication looking into the cavity of any modifications.

I can remove all the bricks under the lintel, but the problem is that would also involve removing the bricks filling in the "tabs" (unless I split the bricks) which I am loathe to do until I can work out if they are supporting anything. The strange thing is that the cavity is only as wide as the inner shape.

I suspect you may be right about the tabs being the remnant of the fixing points for whatever previously covered the cavity.

[visionset]

Knock em all out, self corbelling saves the day.

[xj2224546]

[Phil L]

I've looked at those pictures til I'm blue in the face, but cannot find any 'tabs', nor can I see a lintel.

[tiscali]

I doubt removing the keyed in bricks will cause any problems. Fireplaces can be funny things. sometimes they brick up the inside of the fireplace to form a smaller flue for a later gas fire. You really need to get all the render off the chimney breast to see the extent of it. Use a 1" cold chisel and a

4lb hammer on the concrete render. Good exercise, I just diid mine in the kitchen and found they built the top half of the chimney breast from rocks. 1906 Victorian kitchen. I just had it swept and filled four large rubble sacks with soot, twigs, half-bricks, birds nest, and old aerial fittings.

[Clive Mitchell]

In message , Phil L writes

See? Someone's got carbon monoxide poisoning already, and they've only just opened the fireplace. That's how dangerous they are. :)

[Owain]

With CO poisoning wouldn't he be red in the face?

Owain

[Ben]

Sorry - my fault. The lintel is there, but the brickwork above the opening has been rendered with mortar making it hard to remove. However, by putting a mirror through the hole I can look from behind and there is certainly a lintel following the line where I have stopped removing plaster. I'll see if I can get a photo of it...

By "tabs" I was referr> Clive Mitchell wrote:

[Ben]

I've put up a couple more photos. They're not great... one shows the old opening (were a vent was) behind which can be seen the clay fireback. The other shows all that can be of the lintel at present, at least with a camera...

as before they are at: