Reinstating open fire in upstairs bedroom - regs
Discussion
Hi,
Looking at buying an older property
The chimney has been boarded up but i've a feeling it would be easy to rip off the plasterboard/ply cover and expose an original open fire in the bedroom. Or worst case scenario, rip out and reinstall open fire and then use
can just imagine the open fire crackling away whilst laying in bed drinking coffee/reading paper with mrs thingus
Are there any regs relating to this to prevent you doing it?
Also looking at ripping out old gas fire and putting a wood burner in on ground floor. Presumably may need to line the flue or give a sweep at least?
Looking at buying an older property
The chimney has been boarded up but i've a feeling it would be easy to rip off the plasterboard/ply cover and expose an original open fire in the bedroom. Or worst case scenario, rip out and reinstall open fire and then use
can just imagine the open fire crackling away whilst laying in bed drinking coffee/reading paper with mrs thingus
Are there any regs relating to this to prevent you doing it?
Also looking at ripping out old gas fire and putting a wood burner in on ground floor. Presumably may need to line the flue or give a sweep at least?
We looked into this. Depending on my reading of the regs we may or may not have done it.
As far as I understand you are permitted to reinstate an open fireplace. We paid a man a significant amount of money to check the ancient chimney for leaks, check the loft space for smoke and I had already patched it up a bit in the loft from previous leaks and damage. He then swept the 30 odd years of dead lifeforms out of it and pronounced it safe. Before doing anything get a smoke test as it's a waste of time doing anything until you know if it needs lining in my opinion. We have two stacks each containing two flues and the house is about 130 years old.
We have original (knackered) fireplaces in the bedrooms as well but the chimney on one of them is absolutely crap with bits of mortar and other s
te falling out of it and would absolutely need lining. The other stack (that we use) conversely is absolutely spot on.
I don't imagine we'd ever be arsed to actually light a fire in the bedrooms and I would suggest if you do it may be worth looking at a titchy woodburner like a hobbit stove to keep the dust and draft down which will mean a flue anyway. It's lovely in the lounge but too much of a faff in a bedroom in my opinion so ours are blocked and decorative.
As far as I understand you are permitted to reinstate an open fireplace. We paid a man a significant amount of money to check the ancient chimney for leaks, check the loft space for smoke and I had already patched it up a bit in the loft from previous leaks and damage. He then swept the 30 odd years of dead lifeforms out of it and pronounced it safe. Before doing anything get a smoke test as it's a waste of time doing anything until you know if it needs lining in my opinion. We have two stacks each containing two flues and the house is about 130 years old.
We have original (knackered) fireplaces in the bedrooms as well but the chimney on one of them is absolutely crap with bits of mortar and other s
te falling out of it and would absolutely need lining. The other stack (that we use) conversely is absolutely spot on. I don't imagine we'd ever be arsed to actually light a fire in the bedrooms and I would suggest if you do it may be worth looking at a titchy woodburner like a hobbit stove to keep the dust and draft down which will mean a flue anyway. It's lovely in the lounge but too much of a faff in a bedroom in my opinion so ours are blocked and decorative.
An open fireplace is basically a hole in the roof specifically designed to suck hot air out of your room, so unless you can baffle the thing shut when not in use, a log burner might make more sense. Are your flues independent of each other, or do they merge before reaching the top of the chimney? I can imagine installing two flue liners in a merged flue might be a bit of a challenge.
Open fires (and stoves) are quite dirty things - fine in a rustic living room but really not what you want in a bedroom. I opened ours up and instantly regretted it, not only because of the mess but because you can smell 200 years of soot and feel the air moving!
Unless you’re after the authentic Victorian experience I’d leave it blocked up and put a combination fireplace on it for display purposes only. That’s what I’ve done anyway.
Unless you’re after the authentic Victorian experience I’d leave it blocked up and put a combination fireplace on it for display purposes only. That’s what I’ve done anyway.
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