BISF House Flue Frame Removal Question
Hi, Im new to the forum. We have recently bought a bisf house and are currently Fitting a log burner, we just wondered if there is any way of removing the support frame for the flu leaving just the Flu itself exposed?
Any suggestions would be well appreciated
Many thanks
Dan
Hi,
Hoping on this post as I was hoping for some advice. I have this style fireplace. With brick around the base and metal going up with board around it. The part that would be in the bedroom is removed and boarded up so the whole of the old pipe has been removed too. So the chimney breast is a waste of space. I was hoping to remove the whole lot. Will this be a structural issue? My neighbour has done it and says it isn’t. But I’m nervous.
Many thanks
Hi Dan, I hope you are well.
It’s been a while since you posted your logburner thread on the site, but it would be great to see some of your photographs outlining your project as we have a few people lookin to undertake a similar upgrade at the moment.
If you could share some of your images or if you have rather a lot of them, you could always send them to us via email and we can upload them for you into a gallery?
Our address is @bi*.com" data-original-string="L43v3JfR5uFDawGze5/2DNn8IDDPXH/6q3hqqT48sYw=" title="This contact has been encoded by Anti-Spam by CleanTalk. Click to decode. To finish the decoding make sure that JavaScript is enabled in your browser.">ad@bi*******.com
Marc
We have completed the frame removal ready for the log burner to be installed, was a big job but well worth it, will upload a step by step guide at a later date as we logged the project with many photos.
Hi there, I’m new here, just about to purchase a BISF house and will want to remove the breast. Having see your picture, keeping the flue looks great when painted. What did you do to clean it up?
We used the same heat paint used to refurb old log burners, used a wire brush attachment and wet/dry paper to clean it off, very messy but we’ll worth the hassle. Been in just over 2 years now and still as good as the day it was painted.
Good to know. Thanks! Have you exposed it through the first floor too?
Hi, 2 years back i bought my first home which is the bisf construction. We thinking of taking down all thewalls downstairs and removing the fireplace so that it can be a nice big open plan room. By looking at the pictures above, there is a lot of steel supports around the chimney. Can one remove this or is it a structural support that cant be removed?
Hi, the steel frame around the flue only supports the boxing-in around the flue itself, so that can safely be removed together with the flue pipe. However there are three steel elements in the downstairs walls that cannot be removed. Right across the middle of the house in the top of the wall that separates the living room from the dining room and the kitchen from the hallway there is a large steel I-beam that supports the framework of the floor above. This in turn is supported by two stanchions (vertical steel elements). One is in the corner between the living room/hall/kitchen and the other is roughly half way between the flue and the doorway between the living room and dining room.
Marc has posted a photo of a house where the wall between the living room and dining room has been removed that shows the stanchion left as a pillar but unfortunately I can’t find it.
Ed
3rd
2nd
BTW here’s a few burners that have been fitted in various BISF houses.
Hi Dan, welcome and glad to have you on board!
I have to admit that an exposed frame in the living room is certainly not the most aesthetically pleasing by any means.
We could do with a little more information about what you want to achieve, such as do you intend to leave the existing fireplace in and the burner fits into the fireplace (which is probably a little small or are you thinking of removing the fireplace altogether?
Fireplace removal
The problem here is that the flue is sectional in 3 parts (sometimes 2). The section that is exposed in the living room actually sits in a collar mounted on top of the concrete fireplace support as shown in the image above.
The flue then joins the second section at ceiling height just below first floor level under the floor boards where another steel support plate is fitted. (see image below)
If the original fireplace is removed the lower section of the flue is no longer supported and the flue will separate and will need to be removed along with the lower section of the cage.
You could then theoretically place the wood burner below with its own flue leading up to the remaining flue left in situ.
You would need to ensure that extra supports are put into the flue plate under the remaining original flue to ensure it cannot drop down into the living room. Usually this is done by welding in or bolting in a few sections of steel.
Remember also that the flue plate at ceiling height is slightly proud of the ceiling. i.e the plate sits around an inch below the plasterboard of the ceiling.
You will also need to consider the amount of heat that is given toward the materials surrounding the point where the new flue enters the old flue. i.e the plasterboard / fibreboard, depending on which was used in your house. Plasterboard is safer than the fibreboard when it comes to heat.
I believe you may be able to obtain a thermal collar that should help with this and you would probably need to obtain further guidance from a burner specialist.
I hope I have described this enough, if you need any more details I can try to explain further.
The images below show the retaining collar that sits below the floorboards of the master bedroom and protrudes down slightly into the living room.
Hope this helps (flue images thanks to Ray)