A while back I removed a decorative flame effect gas fire from the lounge with the help of a gas fitter from work (thanks Darren). As nice as it was, it didn't give out much heat but the casing and glass still got hot so it was no use during the day with little ones about as my partner is a child minder and burning other people kids is somewhat frowned upon. Burning your own is also frowned upon, but that's unlikely to directly lead to a lose of business. Anyway, I digress. The fire was pulled out and Ebay'd and it was left at that for the time being as there was no point making loads of mess to hide the end of the gas pipe if something else was going to happen shortly.
And we've now decided on seeing about fitting, or getting fitted, a multi-fuel stove. So it was time to begin looking into these things. And it appears not all that hard to do if you're a bit handy with the DIY. OK, Building Control have to sign off on the work, but the work itself isn't hard as long as you buy the right quality parts. And I figure if I can build The Workshop and do everything in it, then this has got to be within reach.
But first things first. I have a flat chimney breast to break into and have a nose about at. And whilst I was quite surprised to find at least 1.5" thick plaster on the wall, I was happy enough to only have a few large concrete blocks filling the builders opening. I've only taken one out as I need to ensure I can cover the hole up in a vaguely neat way for now.
So with a hole big enough to get my head in I did just that and had a nose up the chimney. A neighbour had said it would be pot lined, which would make fitting a liner a bit of a pain in the arse. Thankfully, it appears he was wrong, or may have been talking about the other chimney these houses have. They used to have a solid fuel boiler in the kitchen with a smaller chimney. This is what this one looks like at the back:
A little way up the chimney:
And then as straight up the chimney as I could aim the camera:
And this seems to be your run of the mill brick built chimney. I'll need to see about removing the bricks that form the infill shaping needed for the open fire that was originally in here as it's not needed and could fall in if left. Which is good as it means a 5" liner should drop down it a treat once done.
The next thing is to open the rest of the wall up so I can see if the stove we'd like, a Charnwood C4, will fit in the existing recess or if I'll need to get a bit more structural with it and open it up.
I really hope it fits.
