Vent on chimney breast

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rowland gatward

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Any advice welcome please. I was told once that if you board over and close a chimney breast where à fire once was you need to put in a vent? Not sure if this is the case or not.
 
You need to leave a vent mate, keep the airflow going. Or you'll end up with condensation spot, worst case u get staining bleeding right through the brickwork from the soot having absorbed moisture.
 
I did a grant job in Kirklees, it was in their standard spec to brick-up bedroom fireplaces and insert a vent. We installed a vent and when we lit a fire in the lounge smoke came out thro vent in the bedroom. I mentioned this to env health officer in charge of job pointing gas fires and dangerous fumes to people asleep. Env. Health officer said would have this removed from their standard specification for the obvious reason of killing occupants whilst asleep.

My mistake was that client was a prat if I had said nothing and he had been gassed I would have had a perfect defence ... I was following instructions of the Council.
 
if the firplace was still open at the bottom, hence they managed to light a fire to find the smoke fault then there was no need for a vent anyway haha
 
bodplasterer said:
The flues should be separate surely?
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You lot need to stick to plastering. Has plaster dust affected your thought processes? Vent in bedroom fireplace because council said so . Lounge fire is on ground floor and bedroom first floor ...I'll concede modest grounds to claim ambiguity on this bit. And lastly of course different flues but in old houses ... like ones that can get a grant the mortar between flues is buggered .. ok not literally
 
rowland gatward said:
Any advice welcome please. I was told once that if you board over and close a chimney breast where à fire once was you need to put in a vent? Not sure if this is the case or not.
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If the client instructs you not to leave a vent, do as you are told. Explain the reasons why you want to insert a vent and confirm the situation on your invoice or by way of a note. if you over rule a client, or anyone else for that matter you take on the responsibility for the consequences. This is true for every area of work especially when the instruction comes from a building professional. Not all consequences are obvious.

In respect of vents, safety overrules plaster staining and issue relating to condensation. Inserting a vent carries with it a responsibility for the consequences because it is a design decision made by you.

If all the flues of a chimney are redundant and the neighbour does not have a mirrored arrangement explain the importance of fumes from adjacent flues being dangerous and let the customer decide. If they can't make a decision don't put one in.
 
Working open fires in terraced housing nowadays are very rare. The chances of your neighbours fire, if they had one, leaking smoke thru the firebacks and then thru 13" brickwork is well nigh negligible. And even if the smoke did get thru to your side, I think it, erm, would go up the chimney :RpS_scared:

Its known as rising smoke :RpS_biggrin:
 
sliemasteve said:
If the client instructs you not to leave a vent, do as you are told. Explain the reasons why you want to insert a vent and confirm the situation on your invoice or by way of a note. if you over rule a client, or anyone else for that matter you take on the responsibility for the consequences. This is true for every area of work especially when the instruction comes from a building professional. Not all consequences are obvious.

In respect of vents, safety overrules plaster staining and issue relating to condensation. Inserting a vent carries with it a responsibility for the consequences because it is a design decision made by you.

If all the flues of a chimney are redundant and the neighbour does not have a mirrored arrangement explain the importance of fumes from adjacent flues being dangerous and let the customer decide. If they can't make a decision don't put one in.
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fair point.
 
irish_spread said:
Working open fires in terraced housing nowadays are very rare. The chances of your neighbours fire, if they had one, leaking smoke thru the firebacks and then thru 13" brickwork is well nigh negligible. And even if the smoke did get thru to your side, I think it, erm, would go up the chimney :RpS_scared:

Its known as rising smoke :RpS_biggrin:
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Whilst I think you are lovely, it works the same for gas fires their fumes and carbon monoxide. In older houses like Victorian but not restricted to this era back-to-back flues with neighbours are often 4.5 inch thick. In knackered mortar there is no difficulty for fumes to flow from one flue to another. If you are a competent and knowledgeable person in respect of flue design and the manner in which the products of combustion flow through or not through old masonry, and are aware of the state of the flues, feel free to advise people as you see fit. My advise to the original writer is do not take on the responsibility for the design of a solution; make the client aware of the situation and let them decide.
 
I'm looking at a victorian one right now. It's right in front of me in my sitting room. I can post a picture if you like. It's a 13" wall between me and my neighbours house. Forgetting about vents, you're saying, say back in the 60's when my neighbour lit his fire it would have released co into my sittingroom ????And this smoke would not go up my chimney???

Dunno how anyone survived the 50's. :confused:
 
[
I'm looking at a victorian one right now. It's right in front of me in my sitting room. I can post a picture if you like. It's a 13" wall between me and my neighbours house. Forgetting about vents, you're saying, say back in the 60's when my neighbour lit his fire it would have released co into my sittingroom ????And this smoke would not go up my chimney???

Dunno how anyone survived the 50's. :confused:​





If it were three foot thick it would have no bearing on what I posted. I have demolished a fair number of chimney stacks and NEVER found anything other 4.5 inch between flues some times 6 or 8 in one stack half belonging to each respective neighbour. But this means very lttle since the sample of houses I have worked on is not necessarily representative of the housing stock of the UK. In the same way that your home is one house out of 22million Even in your home the brickwork could be reduce to 4.5 as the flue goes up through the house. The lower the grade of housing the thinner the walls, often but not always.
The best guidance remains the same avoid responsibilities in respect of design solutions whenever possible unless you are an expert in that field.
 
You defiantly seem to be an expert. A self proclaimed one that is. You are the fool that followed ridiculous advice from some council expert to install a vent at 1st floor level to a working fireplace :RpS_laugh:

Following your ridiculous theories, it would now be dangerous for my neighbour to light a fire in their fireplace, but it would be perfectly safe for me to light a fire in my fireplace :RpS_scared:

I think you come out with this shite on purpose
 
irish_spread said:
You defiantly seem to be an expert. A self proclaimed one that is. You are the fool that followed ridiculous advice from some council expert to install a vent at 1st floor level to a working fireplace :RpS_laugh:

Following your ridiculous theories, it would now be dangerous for my neighbour to light a fire in their fireplace, but it would be perfectly safe for me to light a fire in my fireplace :RpS_scared:

I still think you are lovely but stick with Gaelic because you struggle following the central theme of the topic when written in English.

If instructed by a qualified environmental health officer to insert a vent upstairs in an old house, one can query it etc but the installation was part of the contractual relationship between client, Council and myself. It was not self-evident as you claim that vents should not be inserted in bricked up fireplaces ( at first floor for example) since thousands have been bricked in this manner. The first responders on this thread confirm this.

Vents is an important topic that someone has asked for views on. My substantive argument is that of not taking on the responsibility of designing a solution. Which plaster to use falls within the problem solving remit of plasterers, flues and vents does not so why make a rod for your own back.
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It's NOT difficult.


Answer my question.

Is it more dangerous for my neighbour to light a fire in their fireplace than it is for me to light a fire in mine ?

Think about it for a couple of hours
 
irish_spread said:
It's NOT difficult.


Answer my question.

Is it more dangerous for my neighbour to light a fire in their fireplace than it is for me to light a fire in mine ?

Think about it for a couple of hours
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Whilst I still think you are lovely you suffer from the delusion that by asking a question you deserve an answer. :RpS_thumbsup:
 
bodplasterer said:
The flues should be separate surely?
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My thoughts exactly, If they do join in the loft area then the hot gasses will only rise aided by the bedroom vent.

Vent or no vent, unless the chimney is almost totally blocked, gases will escape properly.

FWIW I usually just block bedroom vents.
 
DannyMac said:
My thoughts exactly, If they do join in the loft area then the hot gasses will only rise aided by the bedroom vent.

Vent or no vent, unless the chimney is almost totally blocked, gases will escape properly.

FWIW I usually just block bedroom vents.
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Ignore what Steve says.

In some cases chimney flues can 'join' below top floor areas but this is very very rare. The safest bet is to put the vent low, at ground floor level, unless of course you have an 'open' fireplace where you don't need one.

Steve states that in his vast experience in this area, the party wall bricks were 41/2"
thick. I have never seen bricks of this thickness commonly used anywhere
 
evening Rowland ,,the answer is definatley yes ,, i,m on refurb at moment doing old pit houses in Donny ,, fire in livin room and fire in kitchen ,, even though electric gettin fitted in livin room and the 1 in kitchen gettin plastered up they still need air flow ,, so plaster up leavin vent hole about 2"-3" square then cover with ceramic /plastic vent :RpS_thumbsup:
 
sliemasteve said:
I did a grant job in Kirklees, it was in their standard spec to brick-up bedroom fireplaces and insert a vent. We installed a vent and when we lit a fire in the lounge smoke came out thro vent in the bedroom. I mentioned this to env health officer in charge of job pointing gas fires and dangerous fumes to people asleep. Env. Health officer said would have this removed from their standard specification for the obvious reason of killing occupants whilst asleep.

My mistake was that client was a prat if I had said nothing and he had been gassed I would have had a perfect defence ... I was following instructions of the Council.
Click to expand...

Just thinking about this................. if you've bricked up the fireplace opening (which would be about 16" x 22" standard) and left a 9" x 6" or 9" x 3" vent, surely you have decreased the amount of toxic fumes/gasses finding their way into the room, and therefore - perhaps somewhat perversely - installed a HEALTHIER system for the client?
 
That's what I've been saying for ages Bubbles, the guy has read widely and copies and pastes and replies at great length but he cannot admit he's wrong.


I still haven't got the answer to how my next door neighbour lighting a fire in their house could be more dangerous than me lighting a fire in mine

Problem is, some people might believe this pish
 
I know that's what you've been saying Eddie, but I'm trying to simplify it for the English on here :RpS_wink:
 
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