Making good fireplace after coal fire removal

[fid]

We've recently had a horrendous 1960's coal fire and tiled fireplace removed, and after umming and ahhing over whether to replace it with a log burner, have decided we wouldn't use it enough to justify the expense.

However, I still need to make good the remains of the fireplace. Plaster/brick slips and a few candles, that sort of thing.

I wasn't home when the fireplace was removed but there's a bit of an opening on one side that has been part-filled with bricks (possibly for back boiler pipes?), along with a couple of bricks that appear to be held up by nothing more than mortar.

I'm a bit lost on the next steps, i.e. what to use to fill the opening on the side...I assume packing it full of mortar wouldn't be the done thing...also whether those two bricks should be left in place/how to level off, and how to close off the chimney semi-permanently incase we do decide to have it lined and a a log burner fitted in future. All advice appreciated.

[_Neal_]

Not sure on filling of the part at the side, but from recent research and chatting to chimney sweeps/fire fitters, you don't want to actually seal the chimney as that can cause condensation issues. Best to make it good then use a draught excluder like a Chimney Sheep - cheap and apparently good.

[Jaska]

In my 1960s house the previous owners just plasterboard around the entire thing and left it all as is. Looks more 'modern' etc and you can quite easily remove it then and be back where you started

[mikey_b]

Looks very similar to how ours did, after I removed the floor to ceiling York stone and grim electric 'fire' - the 1970s sort, with a red bulb to give a soft glow under the unconvincing plastic embers.

The semi-filled hole in the side would indeed have been for a back boiler. I dealt with mine by buying a handful of bricks (you can purchase these individually from Wickes for pennies each) and simply bricked it up properly. The bricks at the top (yours have been messed with in the past - they shouldn't be glued from above with only mortar!) I dealt with by buying a short concrete lintel and knocking out a hole either side underneath them, then mortaring the lintel in to hold the bricks up. In our case, we did want to fit a stove, so having made the sides and semi-loose bricks at the back solid with heat-proof materials, I then used fairly large tiles patterned like small bricks to neaten the inside of the opening without reducing the size much. Then fitted a two-part black slate hearth, and had a plasterer repair where the surround had been.

Immensely gratifying to get a 'Wow, you did this? Great job!' when the stove fitter arrived.

[Dunbar871]

I did the same but added a modern remote control gas fire it’s superb and doesn’t look anything like those 1980s monstrosities. Great use of the space and the flames 🔥 look great on cold winter evenings.

[fid]

Thank you all, I appreciate your replies. Haven't been home much this week to take a look around those two dodgy looking bricks, will see what I can do with them. Feel free to post photos of your fireplaces to give me some ideas - I do quite like the modern gas fires but again not sure it'd get enough use to justify the cost.

[Belle427]

I kept 2 open in and old house, used the smaller one to put some audio equipment shelves under the tv and the other I just stuck in an electric log burner copy which was just to fill the gap really.
I did board the chimney opening to stop heat loss in the room.

[KittyMoq]

I just listed everything I could remember and then walked around the house with my phone to double-check what was plugged in or wired in, and it ended up adding loads I'd totally forgotten.