I'm busy stripping out our cottage at the moment. It had a hideous stone effect fireplace which I have been looking forward to removing for months. I had a pleasant surprise when I did-it was hiding a beautiful old inglenook.





There is a huge stone lintel which we tend to leave exposed. The original chisel marks are still visible together with quite a bit of tar from the fire. I'm still debating over whether to remove the tar or leave as is.





The room size is typically cottage like (small) and we intend to put a log burning stove in place of the open fire. I'm unsure if the fire opening will be too big with the infill brick section taken out and the stove look out of place. Has anyone anything similar so I can pinch your design ideas?

I bet that will make a great fire place. What's your plans? Wood burning stove? Or leave it fully exposed?

Edit! When I first looked at the post on my phone I didn't see the bottom line of text about your plans for the fireplace!  Black MY2013 SD4 GS Auto, Wood Company Armrest, Freel2 sticker.
Gone MY2010 Freelander 2 Manual TD4.e S, Alaska White.

Last edited by Stevie5tapes on 8th Oct 2016 9:46 pm. Edited 1 time in total

What are the dimensions? I had a lot burner fitted a couple of years ago in a similar hole. Note that there are building regs issues now with having the chimney lined, minimum hearth size and ventilation etc. Might be worth getting a specialist to come and have a look and give a quote or advice once you have opened it up. I am away at present but will send a picture of what mine looks like. I think it's a Stovax and cost about 2k to install including lining, new chimney pots and cowls. If it's below a certain size you don't need holes knocking in walls for air vents. 3 x FL1 2 manual + 1 auto
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Mine is multi-fuel 8 kw can use either coal coke/wood solid slate slabs over concrete, lined chimney but had flue swept first don't think it had ever been swept in over 100 years by the bags of soot the sweep took out ..!!
....use eco logs made locally from chippings compressed from wood shavings after making round posts for stock fences no glue used just zillions tonnes pressure ...  Wales
Were the mud is thicker, and the ruts are deeper.
(And we have the water to wash it off, and more on the way..! )
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The height from the floor to the stone lintel is about 1.5 metres. The photo below gives you a better idea of the scale.









Mudslingers fireplace is pretty much what we had intended to do. It seems a shame to leave the inglenook bricked up though. The curtains aren't our choice-an old lady owned it before we bought it!!

Most old build fire place builds are 3 ft wide, height depends on original fittings, many had ovens built in, in theory up to 6Kw wood or multi fuels don't need liners or ventilation to the room. However if you don't fit a liner there is a difficulty of clearing the soot when chimney cleaning, normally one would fit a steel plate just above the stone lintel lower edge out of sight, solid pipe from stove to about 150mm above the plate then join to the liner. The best way is to fit the plate with about a 300mm square hole to take flue, make another plate with a hole of the flue pipe diameter with a 50mm overlap on the plate to cover the hole, this gives you plenty of room to play while fitting the stove, allows access to any crud falling down the chimney when fitting the liner, you can stuff rockwool insulation over the plate to stop heat loss up the chimney as in your case the height of the fireplace will allow more heat to flow into the room. Finally screw the smaller plate to the blanking plate with self tappers and spray with stove paint. my PC is slightly to the right of Genghis
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Many thanks for that Dartman. We will definitely use a flue liner. The stack is in reasonable condition from the outside but it is 200 years old. The builder helping me has advised me not to use it unlined as they tend to deteriorate from the inside out rather than the other way around. As the room is reasonably small, we were looking at this one;

https://www.directstoves.com/charnwood-cou...AnWl8P8HAQ

Over 5 kw will need a air vent and carbon monoxide detector you can google log burner installations and it will give you all the rules and reg's and notifying building control if not done correctly it may invalidate your home insurance. Don't let this put you off fitting one as there is nothing better on a cold winters evening better than the tv sometimes.
If you are in a smokeless area it will also have to be a Defra approved burner.

I have always used Woodwarm stoves they are made of boiler plate rather than cast iron though the doors cast iron My previous one fitted in 1980 is still going strong though the boiler tank rusted through due to the new owner omiting to add inhibitor on a change of oil boiler( it was a twin system, oil to run the system in the morning and the stove to provide back ground heat in the day) I bought another when I moved after finally losing my rag with the Chinese one that was existing, I have a 12KW stove but the room is very large, http://www.woodwarmstoves.co.uk/products/f...tove.ashx. plenty of heat and a nice glow with self cleaning windows
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personally Id lover the lintel heigh, Looks out of balance, but thats a preference. a flat top stove will allow use of a heat fan blowing heat across the room nicely. At work
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Fitting a fan is cheaper than lowering the lintel.  my PC is slightly to the right of Genghis
2012 HSE SD4 In Orkney Grey now gone, best car ever.

chicken george wrote:

personally Id lover the lintel heigh, Looks out of balance, but thats a preference. a flat top stove will allow use of a heat fan blowing heat across the room nicely.

mine has a removable cowl to flat top AND a fan (see picture ) fan works very well...
(bought of E.Bay aprox £20 ish )and still working 4 years later .!!considerable chaper than from a stove place ..!! £60+

only thing is on cold winter evenings Mrs M comes in from work and stands in front of the fre for a good 5 mins as the snow and rain melt and drip off her and leaves puddles on the slate floor ..!!!

Years ago I worked for a fireplace company and one of the other options is to have a canopy made while retaining the inglenook lots of options good luck Wales
Were the mud is thicker, and the ruts are deeper.
(And we have the water to wash it off, and more on the way..! )
Sd4 and chrome Ar*e piece, Auto box for best fun
09 Xs Gone
12 xs Gone
HSE with Leather seats and 4 years warrenty.. staying for now !

Put a little Aldi fan on ours last week , £24 .

Click image to enlarge

I could not agree more with those that suggested the use of a stove fan my stove is inset and the room is noticeably warmer with the fan running, I opted for a Vulcan fan as I like the quirkiness of the Stirling engine that powers it, there is a short video of one on the manufacturers site http://www.stirlingengine.co.uk/d.asp?product=VULCANSTOVEFAN

The main advice is do not buy the liner and chimney/flue components accessories from a stove supplier, their mark ups are enormous, buy online, prices are from about £11/metre, don't worry about warranty the long warranty more expensive liner suppliers wont be there when the flue fails in 6 or 7 years. Check what you actually need, the kits may not be best buys, in your case the length from the stove to the lintel is fairly long and single skin pipe is cheaper than liner. Cut down washing machine/ dishwasher sides are ideal for blanking plates.  my PC is slightly to the right of Genghis
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