Fireplaces and log burners

H

hardya1

New Member
Saw this thread recently

https://www.plasterersforum.com/threads/plasterboard-around-a-woodburner.39678/

Closed though.

Made some recent discoveries on this subject. Not an expert though. This is what I've been told.

Since April 2006 the fitting of a log burner hearth and finish of the internal walls of the fireplace must be certified by one HETAS registered engineer or building regs.

While clearly it must be real world safe, this seems to me to be a critical point for all decisions on the work, since what ever you "even correctly" do, if the one HETAS engineer will not certify it, it's no good.

The registered HETAS engineers I have spoken to say boards such as gypsum fireline boards (fire grade board) are not acceptable and that boards should not be plastered at all. They suggest something called hardybacker unplastered which they say is different.

Also all the HETAS registered engineers I spoke to would not certify any boarding that had not been done by them suggesting that while it may be a perfect and safe job it may be unwise to have an non HETAS registered plasterer work on the fireplace.

I may be wrong about all this, I'm just trying to understand this as a lay person.

What do plasterers think?
 
Have a similar problem with chimney sweep , hetas , clearly wants the work ,
Put oak beam in and routered out for a metal protection plate so not to see it , fixed into brick's at either end and doesn't touch the wood
To the rear of the beam their is a gap , he wants metal welding , fig him , I'll fill it with lime , if he moans I'll find someone else
He wants 2.5k to put a liner in diy £200 max
 
Havagojo said:
Have a similar problem with chimney sweep , hetas , clearly wants the work ,
Put oak beam in and routered out for a metal protection plate so not to see it , fixed into brick's at either end and doesn't touch the wood
To the rear of the beam their is a gap , he wants metal welding , fig him , I'll fill it with lime , if he moans I'll find someone else
He wants 2.5k to put a liner in diy £200 max
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Just wait until late they start putting a polution (Green tax) tax on them as well.
 
Float Sand and cement then set.. .
Fireplaces and log burners
 
My wife has three peasant cottages knocked into one , she don't trust me to not go for original restoration as I can be a bit Ott , it's doing my head in but for once I'm determined to comply and compromise, got to keep the moving the goal posts
 
Densel said:
Stick to ur guns fella original is best...real character.. modern is not always best
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Its a bit of a kop out but you have to pick your battle's, I've got a job coming up for a friend its a farm in Portugal old and falling apart , they're going to give me free rein and pay no worries getting paid to indulge in character and she walks around like it's her birthday a lot
 
Nice job Densel. I'm HETAS so here goes;
It's either sand and cement set with lime to reduce risk of cracking, but.. some get away without the lime, take's your pick. There are 2 fireproof plasters out there, Vitcas and Everbuild but I suspect they are just versions of lime cement. Technically solid plaster is fireproof but IMAO usually cracks - but there are others on this Forum who apparently have been managing it for years.
Alternatives are boards- vermiculite in a variety of patterns, Masterboard, Supalux (Spec max is continuous at 400 deg C but walls unlikely to get that hot unless stove too close), cement boards - several out there, Hardiebacker etc. and fancy boards such as Skamolex, Vitcas do also one, but they can be tricky to seal and finsh decently.
Can't comment on Havagojo's heat shield problem but welding sounds a bit OTT, normally I can get away with TEK screwing an extra strip with a 12mm ventilated air gap behind. For £2.5k I'd expect that to include the stove aswell if they are an independent. The liner materials might be £200 but our labour and risk/overheads certainly ain't cheap, and I'm not going to make any apologies for that.
If it's my job I'll happily use the builder or plasterer to do the work, e.g. if it's part of a bigger job, and give them the spec/choice of board etc.
@hardya1; I don't normally sign-off a DIY job, it's just too risky, but I have done some. The HETAS engineer has to make risk judgements, it's not black and white. I've inspected several and even though they've tried real hard some real genuine risks often appear and it isn't easy to see them. It can cost near as much as doing the job in the first place on some. If I do an inspection my report gets sent to a Building Control guy who can make a decision based on my words and has the right to say yes where I might have said no. If Tinytom is willing to do it then fair play to him, most HETAS won't.
 
It's still a di y job in Scotland and Wales fitting a log burner or multi fuel stove so it would appear only is English cannot be trusted to fit our own.
 
Diy in our house , quoted £2.5K for ours, cost £200 and 2 days of stress from the wife
 
Brimstone said:
Nice job Densel. I'm HETAS so here goes;
It's either sand and cement set with lime to reduce risk of cracking, but.. some get away without the lime, take's your pick. There are 2 fireproof plasters out there, Vitcas and Everbuild but I suspect they are just versions of lime cement. Technically solid plaster is fireproof but IMAO usually cracks - but there are others on this Forum who apparently have been managing it for years.
Alternatives are boards- vermiculite in a variety of patterns, Masterboard, Supalux (Spec max is continuous at 400 deg C but walls unlikely to get that hot unless stove too close), cement boards - several out there, Hardiebacker etc. and fancy boards such as Skamolex, Vitcas do also one, but they can be tricky to seal and finsh decently.
Can't comment on Havagojo's heat shield problem but welding sounds a bit OTT, normally I can get away with TEK screwing an extra strip with a 12mm ventilated air gap behind. For £2.5k I'd expect that to include the stove aswell if they are an independent. The liner materials might be £200 but our labour and risk/overheads certainly ain't cheap, and I'm not going to make any apologies for that.
If it's my job I'll happily use the builder or plasterer to do the work, e.g. if it's part of a bigger job, and give them the spec/choice of board etc.
@hardya1; I don't normally sign-off a DIY job, it's just too risky, but I have done some. The HETAS engineer has to make risk judgements, it's not black and white. I've inspected several and even though they've tried real hard some real genuine risks often appear and it isn't easy to see them. It can cost near as much as doing the job in the first place on some. If I do an inspection my report gets sent to a Building Control guy who can make a decision based on my words and has the right to say yes where I might have said no. If Tinytom is willing to do it then fair play to him, most HETAS won't.
Click to expand...
Nice write up. Very posh but if your hetas registered why are you sending a report to building control?’
You should be the competent person and you send a copy of your cert to hetas building control aernt in the loop
 
Fair Question; Because we are only supposed to sign off work we have done ourselves, not third party work. I take the view, and I think some others do aswell, that if we are supervising the build we can sign it off. HETAS are a bit hot on this.
I also get cases where Building Control have specified they want a HETAS report. This used to be the norm in all cases at Windsor and Slough but now they have merged with other areas it has changed a bit. They still specify it though, if they are not sure what has been done, e.g. if approached once the build is finished. I had one recently where the client subsequently did a attic conversion and BC required the chimney height to be increased, and confirmation I had extended it per Regs.
Mate of mine had a case last year where a Green Heating Consultancy & Building Control weren't happy with another firms work. Then out of the blue HETAS brass turned up with the HETAS inspector, to do the inspectors own annual qualification check. So all three got checked in detail by the HETAS brass.
 
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