There was some debate on whether or not to have a stove, primarily about its emissions. The problem we have is that the area has no mains gas available so everyone in the area has had to use alternative fuels to heat their homes. This bungalow had a mix of old storage heaters (which we discovered were no longer connected), electric panel heaters and a knackered old oil filled radiator in the bathroom. Many if not all the people in the area had open fires and stoves for supplementary heating and we decided it would be a quick fix to get heating into the place during cold spells. In truth, you can’t beat a real fire!
We weren’t great fans of the old fireplace. It hadn’t been used for some time because the chimney had been capped. Prior to the stove man’s arrival I stripped the wallpaper to reveal some interesting plasterwork from the two sockets on either side of the fireplace, to the wall lamps. The lights themselves weren’t part of the lighting circuit – instead there were a couple of wires emerging out of the plaster by the sockets with some 3 pin plugs attached to the end. To switch the lights on/off you had to plug/unplug them. Unique, to say the least! I removed some loose filler to discover there was no metal casing, just the wire so I decided to grab a plug and pull to see what would happen. I ended up with what you see in the picture. Nice eh!
The first job was to remove the old fireplace. Then a quantity of bricks were removed to form an alcove into which the new stove would sit. The top line of the alcove had a reinforced concrete lintel fitted and brickwork added where necessary to square things up.
Next job was the hearth. The material was manufactured but had an excellent natural slate look to it, once fitted.
Next, the wall was plastered and the alcove rendered with a special heat resistant coarse render. I did tell the plasterer that it wasn’t necessary to skim the whole wall because we would have to have it chased out when we re-wire, but he decided it would be easier to do the whole wall rather than just patch up the channels left when the old wall lights were removed. It gave us a chance to see the quality of his work which we have to say was excellent!
The last stage was the stove fitment, stove pipe, baffle plate and flue lining. In the end the new stove fit perfectly into the alcove. The stove model complied with all the latest regs.
We were extremely happy with the quality of the work carried out and the finished product. The experience restored our faith in trades and the guy that fitted the stove put us in touch with a different roofer who came to fix the problems left behind by the previous roofers. The only thing left to do was spark it up and try it out!
Note the stove fan we had stored, brought from an old house. Great little gadget!