Building a Home Fireplaces Design Dilemma

Chimney breast dilemma in 1930s home

3 years ago

Hey everyone,

I’m curious to hear other people’s thoughts. My partner and I are currently in the process of buying our first home together. A 1930s 3 bed semi-detached house.

Our main bedroom will be upstairs the front of the house. We would absolutely love to remove the chimney breast in order to square off the room and give us more space.

However, the dilemma comes in when we would to get a log burner in to the living room which is directly below our bedroom.

We were looking at installing something like the Stovax 2 / 3 so it’s integrated into the chimney breast itself.

I’m curious to hear from others as to what our options could be? Is it even possible?

Thank you in advance

Comments (4)

PRO
Ellen Utley Interiors
3 years ago
Good Morning Scotto,

I am a strong believer in trying to work with the original character of the building. It may take a few more ideas and a bit of innovation. In design it is really helpful to sketch out all ideas and keep thinking of more when you think you are done. Then you can narrow these down.

If the chimney is still to be taken down (which is likely to be structural), some log burners can be taken out through walls rather than chimneys depending on the possibilities externally and neighbours etc. Builders and planning departments will advise. If you like the built in stove look, a new built in wall could be created rather than having to utilise the old chimney.

Happy to help, please visit my site. We can provide remote design, the first step is to get in touch and we will cost up the service that you require. This can range from an innovative floor-plan created remotely for you to a full design and project management. As a client you can benefit from our supplier discounts as all we charge is fees, no product profit.

Thank you for sharing and enjoy these exciting times!

Many thanks,

Sophie Ellen

Ellen Utley Interiors
scotto87
Original Author
3 years ago
Hey Sophie,

Thanks for your post back :) my partner and I like contemporary interior design and we aren't a huge fan of the old 1930s features if I'm honest.

The wall where we would like the log burner backs onto the next door neighbour so it would be interesting to see if we could take it out if the wall instead of up through the chimney.

I will keep you in mind when we finally complete on the property :)

thanks
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Looks great! Only issue you might have is removing the fireplace as it's an adjoing wall and you 'usually' share a chimney. If you have your own separate stack then it should be ok to put a lintel above and remove the bottom. Just thought I would mention that as we researched it ourselves ;o) Also - moving the kitchen - is your adjoining wall on the right? If so, then you might struggle to get all the waste etc out ie it would have to go under the floor to get back out to the drains. If that is the case then I would suggest blocking off the door from the hallway and keeping the entrance into the rear reception room and keeping the kitchen area where it is. But just re-modelling it. I would also suggest first, finding out where you can put support steels to remove walls as this will affect the room layout and you want to avoid having any posts floating in the middle of the room - if possible.
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Alix W
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Hi, I recently did the opposite and reinstated a chimney breast so I could install a fireplace. A couple of things to bear in mind - if you’re attached to next door then the flue will need to be in your house, so you would need to use the existing chimney-breast and flue. If you really wanted to you could probably reduce the width of the chimney breast- it will originally have been built to accommodate a fire and the flue from below. But this will be expensive and you will still have the flue going through the room. If you do decide to remove it, then you need to remove the chimney stack too, or prop it in the loft. Hope this helps!
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OnePlan
3 years ago
The stovax2 is approx 350 deep so so your current 1930s chimney might need to be a bit deeper to accommodate it in the living room? If the bedroom above needs to be enlarged it makes sense to take the chimney out - but the flue will still need to go up - so you won’t have a flat wall... Sounds to me like you need to design the bedroom first then see what space can be left, ie for a flue . Swapping a woodburner to a fluless gas fireplace might be an altogether easier experience !!

Chimney breast dilemma in 1930s home

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Ellen Utley Interiors

scotto87
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Chimney breast dilemma in 1930s home

Comments (4)

Ellen Utley Interiors

scotto87Original Author

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Alix W

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scotto87
Original Author