Gas fire removal

[MillyMolly123]

Hi everyone,

We inherited a modern style gas fire with the house. I’ve never been keen, and in almost 4 years of living here we’ve never used it.

We’ll probably redecorate the living room in a few months, providing a great excuse to finally rid ourselves of the monstrosity. I was toying with the idea of a wood burner, it we probably wouldn’t use it.

I’m thinking of doing away with a fire totally, and just making a feature of what’s left behind. We currently have something similar to pic 1. I’m
Thinking of going for something like pic 2.

Does anyone know who I would call to arrange for the work to be carried out once COVID restrictions are lifted? I realise I’ll need a gas safe engineer to cap the gas off - will they also remove the fire? I’m guessing I could then just employ a builder to do the rest?

I initially thought fireplace companies would do this type of job, but all their websites just mention replacing fires, fireplaces, and maintenance.

Anyone had this type of thing done? Who did you call upon? Help... I want it gone!!!

Thanks

Any gas engineer can remove and cap off the fire. Although I would warn against a 'hole" (the empty space) I have one and its not great to look at and no amount of fake logs, baskets etc makes up for a fire as a focal point. I would either: put in a log burner, even a tiny one, or just board it all up and have a vent. Its very cold and warm air gets sucked up and also you hear the wind howling over the pot (if you have a chimney) and the fire keeps the chimney dry, with no heat it can get dampish.

Hi, I had this done just before lockdown. Our gas safe plumber did it, he capped it off below the floor and removed the fireplace. It cost £80 (Midlands). He was doing some other work for us at the time including putting a radiator in the wall.

Be warned that we didn't get a nice neat hole for plastering over, we got a mammoth bloody cave. It was also way deeper than it was wide - it was really quite narrow - so we ended up having it plaster boarded over and a flat wall instead.

To have had a hollow like in your pic we'd have needed a more interested plasterer willing to knock some more bricks out either side, not sure how much that would have cost. That may not be a prohlem in your case though!

Ill see what pics I can find...

Here's before (it was really hideous)

And after ish (not the best pic as we now have flooring etc down and some colour in the room but it's 11pm and I'm not going back downstairs )

I'd probably recommend you get your plumber/ gas safe engineer to safely remove the fire and then assess what you have behind it, maybe call in the builder/ plasterer then

@Christmastree43

And after ish (not the best pic as we now have flooring etc down and some colour in the room but it's 11pm and I'm not going back downstairs )

You need a small air vent just above the skirting or you will get a damp chimney and the salts will come through the bricks and ruin your plaster, you need one especially before winter but ideally right away. Believe me you don't want my chimney issues.

If you get the salts you will have to rip down all the plaster and re plaster with anti salts stuff and it will cost.

@LordOftheRingz there's one on the left side of the breast, hoping that will do?? You're worrying me now

[quote Christmastree43]@LordOftheRingz there's one on the left side of the breast, hoping that will do?? You're worrying me now [/quote]
As long as there is a clear draw from the room then you should be ok. most do have it in the middle where the old opening was, but as long as there is air flow its ok.

@LordOftheRingz and @Christmastree43 - thanks for the replies.

Wow, Christmastree, what an improvement.

Ok, maybe I’ll reassess and look into a small wood burner (I just didn’t want the expense if it would never be used), BUT you’re right, who knows what lurks behind the existing fireplace - could be almost as big of a job as fitting a new stove.

Past experience with older houses, such as ours, tells me that if it can go wrong, it will and end up costing twice as much.

Why are these things never simple

We replaced our gas fire with a gas stove it looks lovely and gets switched on about 2 times a year .

How old is the house?

It’s a 1930s semi

@Floralnomad Haha! That’s twice more than ours would do if we had one. They do look lovely though.

Although we rarely use our gas fire I am thankful that we have an alternative form of heating for the occasional boiler breakdown or power cut.

Not having a gas fire would probably out me off buying a house.

@Ginfordinner I understand where you’re coming from but if our boiler were to ever breakdown, we could just use a temporary heater until it’s fixed.

We’re not planning on moving ever, so don’t need to worry about saleability. Loads of new builds are now built without fireplaces. Out of the last 4 houses we’ve lived in, none of them have had a working fire... totally fine for us (and probably why we don’t use this one, we’re so used to not having one)

We had a gas fire taken out in a previous house and replaced with a log burner.

We had a gas safe registered chap come out to cap the gas off and remove the gas fire (and skeleton of bird that was trapped behind it)

We then had a hetas registered builder come along to do the rest. It wasnt cheap but the end result was v pretty

Also, @PigletJohn this is the fireplace in the back room. It’s kind of what I’d like in the front room, if possible.

Would it be naive of me to think the openings would roughly be the same size in both rooms?

I’d be ecstatic if I could achieve something similar to the pic in the front room.

@RhubarbBikini They’re lovely, but such a lot of money for something I know we wouldn’t use

Just a word of warning. My late MIL had her fireplace closed off and replaced the coal fire with an electric fire. Since it meant that there was no ventilation it has caused massive condensation problems ever since.

@Ginfordinner

Just a word of warning. My late MIL had her fireplace closed off and replaced the coal fire with an electric fire. Since it meant that there was no ventilation it has caused massive condensation problems ever since.

Thanks @Ginfordinner - if we do get the fire removed, I’ll ensure some form of ventilation mechanism is fitted. The fire from the fireplace we have in our back room (pic is above) was removed by the previous owners, so at least 4 years ago. No sign of condensation/damp but there is a vent

A 1930's house is likely to have been used for coal fires so will need sweeping. It also needs to be ventilated top and bottom or you will get condensation inside which will cause yellow or brown stains on the plaster as it soaks through carrying tar. An air brick will do. If the chimney will never be used again you can have it capped or even removed below roof level, which reduces future maintenance in pointing and flashing the chimney.

The chimney usually has at least two flues in it, one will be from the room above. Sometimes the room to the side will also join. Dig out the rubble behind the fireback, if you find damp in the foot, dig down a couple of feet (there will not be a DPM under it) and put in a couple of concrete paving stones or something with a gap same as under your floorboards. Some people ventilate the floor void up into an unused chimney if it is not well ventilated.

The builders opening behind will be similar size to the other one, if you take out the hearth, but the brickwork will not be neat because it was never intended to be seen. The wall between your house and the neighbours will be thinner and worse built than you'd expect and noise or smoke will pass through. Bricking the back will help if you aren't bricking up the opening. There is probably an iron bar as a lintel above the fireplace, and a joggled brick arch higher than that. If you strip off the plaster you will see it. It is likely to be clumsily built and need repointing or rebuilding as the bricks often come loose above the fireplace.

@PigletJohn Thank you!

I think it’s going to be more work than I thought, and perhaps not the best way forward.

I’ll look into getting a log burner.

Really useful, thanks again.

I really like the fireplace you already have BTW

@Ginfordinner Thanks Gin, that’s kind of you.

We’ve lived with it for 4 years and can’t get used to it. It doesn’t really go with the rest of the house, or our furniture.

The house decor would just flow so much better with a different style, if you know what I mean.

I e tried to make it work but I’m just not keen on it... my personality usually means I either absolutely love something, or totally hate it!