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https://www.askthetrades.co.uk/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl DIY Forum >> Building Questions >> Fireplace installing https://www.askthetrades.co.uk/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl?num=1101603921 Message started by John Davies on Nov 28^th, 2004, 1:05am

Title: Fireplace installing
Post by John Davies on Nov 28^th, 2004, 1:05am

We have a 1930's tiled fireplace in the house we are doing up which needs replacement, and I have ordered a cast iron surround ('inset'), fireback and wooden mantel which I was thinking of putting in myself, and then getting a corgi registered gasfitter to test the flue and �connect a gas fire.

I am aware of how to install a standard fireplace, form a throat etc. �but have never tried to fit a cast one before.

Currently there is just a large square hole in the chimney breast - a concrete former surrounded by rubble and cement - where a back boiler once sat.

Is the job as simple as creating a channel for a gas feed, installing the fireback and filling the gap with rubble and cement? � Are there any difference between fitting a cast iron fireback and a 'normal' one which I should be aware of, like it needing an insulated jacket of some sort? I seem to remember seeing one which had been recently taken out which had such a jacket.

Lastly, do I cement the cast surround in completely or should it be allowed room for expansion?

Many thanks

John Davies

Title: Re: Fireplace installing
Post by John Davies on Nov 29^th, 2004, 1:28pm

Progress so far. Standard practice is apparently the same as a 'normal' non cast hearth - mortar in the surround, insulate behind the hearth (though not with an asbestos jacket these days - just a perlite/cement mix or similar).

However, just to complicate things, fireplaces and chimneys etc. now come under part J of the Building regs. (The last time I had anything much to do with fireplaces this did not exist!) So, as with so many things now, if you don't have a professional installer who can self certify, then on a DIY installation Building Control has to be involved.

However, I have spoken to the local Building Control Officer, who says that providing it is a class 1 fireplace going into a class 1 chimney breast (it is), that there has been a fireplace therefore and a corgi engineer checks the ventilation, throat and flue and fits the fire, he 'isn't otherwise interested and has better things to do!' He is normally one of the nice guys - they do exist! :)

John Davies