# Knocking out higher flue opening in chimney breast above fireplace to fit stove.



## carrotcake (10 Mar 2010)

Hello, may I ask your advice please. Builder left opening in chimney for just a fireplace (height to lintel will be only 30 inches from finished floor level). However, I had hoped to put in a large/tall stove as a feature point and now realise that opening is too small i.e. flue position is too low - it would only suit a very very small stove and my room is a large open plan one. Advice I got was to approach builder and ask him to kangoo out a hole above the lintel at a height that could take a taller stove. Is this advisable or would this be structurally detrimental for the chimney? It would mean though, I assume, that I would need to have picked the actual stove and know exact measurements before starting to cut out a hole. I have already asked him about lifting the current lintel up to facilitate a bigger stove but he said that was a massive job and near impossible and structurally not advisable, however, before house goes any further, I want to explore whatever other options there are to rectify the situation (just at first fix stage at moment; no internal insulation/drylining done yet) before throwing in the towel so to speak! Thanks very much.


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## changes (10 Mar 2010)

​I got the same done last year. I had built a standard fireplace but then decided i wanted a stove so I got a builder to come in and kango it out. 
It took him a day and he charged €300. He put in 2 new lintels though.
Make sure you get someone who knows what they are doing.


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## Leo (12 Mar 2010)

Mod bump.


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## ventura heat (13 Mar 2010)

traditional builder for 25 years rgii and oftec reg. have had to carry out this procedure many times over the years , extreme caution and attention to detail is required as builders opes are constructed to support the entire weight of all flues and fill above, if the flue gatherer needs to be lifted / raised all flueing above needs to be supported while these works are carried out . not nice to find contents of chimney on living room floor when this procedure is not out carried correctly.at preplaster stage this work can be carried out once the correct fill has been inserted around the actual chimney flues.


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## carrotcake (13 Mar 2010)

Thanks very much Changes and Ventura Heat for your replies. It's really helpful. May I ask you Changes do you mean that you got your actual fireplace lintel (standard height of 30inches or so) lifted to the height you wanted and that you widened it too when you say the builder put in two lintels (side by side?) to facilitate your stove sitting in a little into the recess and the rest standing out? Or do you mean that your builder kangooed out a flue opening above the existing standard fireplace lintel you had and put in two lintels, one sitting one top of another, to take the weight of the chimney/for support? Depending on which option you had done above, does this mean that a) your stove now sits out completely outside the fireplace opening i.e. is freestanding or is part of your stove now fitting into to your new kangooed out fireplace i.e. 40% of stove sitting in and 60% of stove sitting out (like one sees in most of the stove brochure magazines i.e. homely/traditional look). This information would be really helpful as my builder has more or less turned down completely to me the option of lifting the current lintel in place as he said it would be structurally more or less impossible. I hadn't known at all at the time of speaking to him of the option of kangooing in a flue position higher up in the chimney breast above the current lintel so before I go back to my builder and discuss the fireplace/stove situation again, the more knowledge/information I have the better! Thanks very much Changes. Sorry about all the questions. Thanks Ventura Heat for your reply. I gather from you that you have carried out the job that my own builder is saying is impossible! i.e. litting up current fireplace lintel. I can imagine all right that one would have to take extreme caution and be meticulous in doing the work. Has this job been very successful Ventura Heat? What I mean is that did any of your clients ever have problems with structural problems or weight of chimney on new lintel put in? Would you recommend that I try and go down this road (and talk to my builder again) rather than going the option of kangooing out a flue opening someplace in the chimney breast above my current fireside lintel. It's fortunate that I noticed this before house had gone any further so I want to try and do my best to rectify this in the best way possible at this stage. Again, many thanks in advance for taking the time to reply and give your advice.


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## changes (13 Mar 2010)

Hi,

I'm not a builder carrotcake so don't take this as the way to go. I was coming and going throughout the day as he was working at it. 

I asked him to give me an opening like this:
http://www.boilerstoves.co.uk/Stratford-EcoBoiler-20-boiler-stove-788.html

He cut out a hole at the back of the chimney brace at the height i wanted it finished at (at both sides of the brace). He cut out the hole on either side and then slid a lintel in through this. This was one of the lintels he put in. This lintel now was supporting the structure while he took out the front and put in the flue and the other lintel.

He kangoed out the opening then below this to give me the finished dimensions as desired and identical to the one in the picture. 

If your current builder does not know how to do it then ask about. Make sure you get someone who knows exactly how to do it.


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## carrotcake (15 Mar 2010)

Hello Changes. Thank you very much for your reply. I really appreciate it. It is really helpful to know that this can be done. Thank you also for attaching the copy of the type of opening you wanted (and acheived!). That is also the exact type of opening I would like. I'll talk over things with my builder again now that I have more information and see what we can come up with. Again, many thanks.


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## johneym (5 Sep 2010)

Hi Changes,

can I ask you how high you made your opening? And did your builder have to take out the flue gatherer and if he did how did he support the flues?
Sorry, but I want to do this  aloso,

Thanks a lot,

John


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## ctlsleh (28 Jan 2016)

Did anyone ever get a confirmation on whether the flue can be raised to accommodate an standalone burner?


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## Branz (29 Jan 2016)

what do u mean by burner?


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## ctlsleh (30 Jan 2016)

Oil stove


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## majeka (2 Oct 2019)

Hi Has anyone carried out this operation as i am about to do the same, Ie standard Irish builders opening into inglenook effect?


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