Just about done building!

Since Christmas Eve I have managed to get most of the "building work" side of the fireplace recess done. The lintel was levelled and mortared in, and then the gap above it bricked back in too. Turns out it's fairly messy fitting lintels as you end up trying to push mortar into small holes or slots only to miss with a reasonable amount of it. Or at least, that's how I ended up doing. But it's in and was then left overnight to go off.

With the lintel dry, I could now make a start on raking out any loose mortar and re-pointing what I felt needed doing in the recess. My aim wasn't to make it look brand new. The house is too old for that, but not old enough to go for a full rustic or aged effect either. So if the mortar was sound but lumpy it stayed. If it was loose or so dry it crumbled it was raked out and replaced. Once the pointing was done I had a good chunk of mortar left over, so I added some ballast I had left over and laid it into the bottom of the fireplace to bring the level up. It's not totally level, but it doesn't need to be, as the hearth will sit on a 5-10mm bed of mortar which will take up any unevenness.

And then I had to wait overnight again for the mortar to go off before I could make a start on cleaning the bricks and remaining mortar. Thankfully, most of it could be done with just a wire brush. I had heard horror stories about trying to clean soot from bricks, but apparently foaming bathroom cleaner is the way to go. So with Mr Muscle in hand, I set too. Turns out that a rag and a small garden spray bottle of water is just as effective, and much cheaper! The below photos show the finished article not long after I had done the cleaning, so the upper sections are still damp and appear darker than the rest. I'm hoping they'll even out once dry.

 

And that is about it for now. I'm currently looking about for a hearth, and I may have found one that someone has had cut to size, but then realised they'd ordered it wrong. Thankfully, it's just about perfect for what I need. The only other thing I need to do is to cut and fit the concrete boards to cover over the bricks that step in from the vertical line under the lintel. For now I'm planning on leaving this until I get the flue liner, but The Boss may decide before then that she wants it all to look a bit tidier. Fitting the boards will close off the chimney temporarily, so should also stop any draughts.

One final thing, a quick photo of Daddy's little helper, as he has been supervising throughout.

All being well, the next update should involve the fitting of the hearth.