I have a cast iron open fireplace which is (loosely) attached to the chimney breast in my living room by the mantle piece. There is a small but significant gap behind it where the bricks have been hacked out so it will fit. What should I fill this gap with? Currently any soot which forms can fall down behind the fireplace.
How to pack behind a cast iron fireplace
chimneyfireplace
Related Solutions
Did the transparent glass "back wall" explode because you added the front side glass doors and as a result the temperature in the fire box area went way up???
You need to consider carefully the airflow and draw requirements of the fireplace and the chimney that vents it out through the roof. Changing the design can really change the temperatures of the internal space!!
I would think that if you were to block off the far side with bricks that you may need to line the inside of the brick with special heat resistant fire bricks. Regular bricks could get extra hot and shatter too.
If you really need to have the front side glass doors make sure that there is a part of the design that permits the proper amount of air flow in around the sides of the door assembly for the chimney draw to work correctly.
We were able to find someone to do this. They removed part of the roof on the garage and built a ramp over the ply wood to toss down bricks. They removed it to below the roof of the chimney and patched the hole in the roof and reinstalled the metal panels. They also put siding on the house where the chimney was.
No mess in the living room and it was about a fifth of the price of a teardown and rebuild, approx. $2300. This is in New England, so price might vary. Also, the foundation for the chimney wasn't done right when built, which is why the rebuild price would have been so high.
Related Topic
- Can we mount a TV over a fireplace with the chimney directly behind it
- Electrical for built-ins and fireplace insert
- Remove a Brick Chimney and Replace With Something Else
- Levelling hearth – what to use
- Wood – Placed Fire Place Insert Wood Stove into Fire Place; how to minimize heat loss through former chimney damper opening
- Wood – How to build a mantel on rough stone fireplace
Best Answer
a picture would help, but i sense that no matter what i will recommend you to use cob - that is, building with earth. i didn't understood exactly what gap you need to fill but cob can fill everything, it's cheap (cost nothing!) it's fixable, and it can stand the heat (with guaranty - in the past i have built some ovens with it).