We have a 1952 home with a fireplace in it (original to home). There is brick around the opening of the fireplace, then a wooden frame and then plaster about 8" past the wood frame and back about 8" to the wall. It goes up about 8" to the small wooden mantel and then appears to have plaster up to the ceiling from the mantel but that is only about 2.5" thick. Is there a way to tell if there is brick behind the plaster?
How to tell if there is brick behind plaster on a fireplace
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Related Solutions
If your house was built before the 1940's, it's probably a layer of wood lath, followed by a standard 2x4 stud wall with no insulation. Perhaps some knob-and-tube wiring just to make things interesting. The plaster will make more dust than you thought possible (wear a mask).
After the 1940's, it's probably gypsum board, but without the foaming agents and plasticizers that make today's drywall easier to use. Behind it, you probably have a 2x4 stud wall with no insulation and conduit or NM wiring.
[Here's a picture of a lath wall from the back, courtesy Wikipedia]
The advice your home inspector gave you is ridiculous and he should have his license revoked. Either a flue is safe to use with wood, or it is not. Get a good chimney cleaning company that also inspects flues to clean it well first and run a camera down the length looking for any problems that might need attention and assure you it is safe for a wood fire. Don't guess at this or just try a "small" fire before getting a real inspection. Better safe than sorry.
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Best Answer
Yes, you can cut a hole in the plaster and see if there is brick behind it.
Perhaps an easier way is if this is on an outside wall and the brick no the outside goes all the way up. If so, odds are that it goes all the way up on the inside, as this would likely have been a full masonry chimney when it was built (as opposed to modern fireplace inserts which typically just have a metal insulated flue rather than a full chimney).
Note that if your intention is to expose all that brick, you may be let down as often brick that was pre-determined to be covered is not the 'good' bricks and the mortar may not have been raked at all. Sometimes, they just plaster right on top of the brick as well, and that can be a long, tedious chore to remove (as plaster adheres wonderfully to brick).