DIY: A Step by Step Guide to Installing a Fireplace
Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, many people chose to remove their cast iron fireplaces from their home. While some chose to cover up the space, others chose to install a gas fire. As a result, many stunning cast iron fireplaces made their way to landfill, which was a crying shame.
Thankfully, many homeowners are beginning to recognize the beauty and sophistication of traditional fireplaces, which can add a touch of luxury and elegance into their interior design. If you want to follow in their footsteps, read this step by step guide to installing a fireplace.
Step 1: Find the Perfect Antique Fireplace
The first thing you’ll need to do is discover the best antique fireplace for your home.
To ensure you select a dependable feature that can improve the look and feel of your décor, while potentially boosting your property’s sales price, you should visit the Westland London showroom that specializes in antique fireplaces from different periods, such as the 18th and 19th century. To choose the perfect design to complement your interior design and taste, visit Westland London | Antique Fireplaces & Architectural Antiques.
Step 2: Check Your Chimney Breast
You’ll next need to check your chimney breast hasn’t been removed or blocked up. For example, you could buy smoke pellets to identify if smoke is drawn upwards from your home. It is possible a chimney might have been covered with either plasterboard or lightweight blocks.
Step 3: Measure a Fireplace
It is important to have a fireplace on site before the installation process begins. A builder or handyman will need to check the fireplace shelf is 10cm narrower than the chimney breast measurement. However, you don’t need to worry if your chosen fireplace isn’t the correct size, as there will be some wiggle-room when it comes to the installation process.
Step 4: Uncover or Rebuild the Hearth
Once a fireplace has been measured, you’ll need to either uncover or rebuild the hearth. Thankfully, building a new hearth isn’t complicated and it can be completed quickly and easily by a talented builder. For example, they will need to make a timber shuttering before filling it with a wet concrete mix of one part cement and five parts ballast, which should be leveled with a float.
Step 5: Install a Metal Insert
A metal insert will keep a surround firmly in place. If you are installing a small cast iron fireplace, many tend to feature a combined surround and insert that feature holes below the mantelpiece, so they are easy to attach onto a wall.
Step 6: Attach a Surround
The best way to attach a surround onto a wall is to use four fixing plates, which should be screwed onto the back of a surround and then the wall. To do so, you’ll need to chisel a channel within a wall, which you can later strengthen with a filler.
Step 7: Tile the Hearth
Once you have followed the above tips, all that will be left to do is to tile the hearth to match your cast iron fireplace and interior design. However, ensure you have your chimney swept before you light a fire for the first time.
If you have decided that having a fireplace is just what your home could do with, knowing how to go about it will ensure that you get to enjoy the beauty and warmth that a fireplace offers. Make sure to take heed of the above steps, and your new fireplace will become a cozy and elegant spot that will bring together the entire room.
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