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I have a 30 year old house with an enormous fireplace in the family room. The surround and hearth are brick, the opening is 6ft wide x 8ft high, and while it gives a great “ski lodge” impression, it’s not very practical. It is located on an interior wall. My question is, what is involved in reconfiguring the fireplace by reducing the size of the firebox and surround to a more conventional size?
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Jonathan: Probably need more info before anybody responds. (I thought I had a big fireplace, but wow!, esp. built circa 1970)
How often do you build a fire?
Can you get brick to match the original?
How high is your ceiling with a 8' high opening?
What is the present damper/closure mechanism?
What climate are you in?
Does it have it's own foundation?
What is the chimney/flue configuration?
Can you convert it to a closet? (TIC)
*Thanks Art. Frequency is rare in this fireplace due to the configuration, and my desire is actually to convert it to gas logs (but not a gas fireplace).Brick match, yes.I screwed up when I typed the height, it's 4.5 feet high. 8 feet would be a bit nuts, sorry about that.The back of the firebox near the top slopes toward the front, creating a "slot" of sorts for the damper. It is a simple mechanical arm lever as far as I can tell.The climate is moderate, Virginia.I don't know the answer to the foundation question.I'm not sure what kind of answer fits the configuration question. The wall is an interior wall and this fireplace is the only thing vented through the chimney, but other than that I'm not sure what you mean.I could probably convert it to a master suite. It seriously does have a wood closet next to it, with a small door next to the mantle and a large door on the utility room on the other side. I'd like to convert that to built in shelving actually, since gas would eliminate the need for it.Thanks.
*Gas logs but no gas? Will it just be decoration then? Either way, since you have a brick match and really want it smaller, brick it to size to suit your desires (size the lintel to hold the brick weight), adding tempered glass doors will help with heat loss whether just decoration logs or gas logs with gas and you will have no draft problems. Weekly or more frequent wood fires quickly soot up glass doors and the thermal stress usually anneal and crack the glass after a few years. Personal choice from your description would be to forget any resize and simply get a set of large decorative logs and glass doors (arbitrary frame size, your esthetics govern). If you are not going to have a fire very often, duct tape the damper closed for heat saving, but don't forget to have a flag hanging from it to remind you to remove the tape and open the damper (been there, done that and smoked up the house long ago)
*Thanks, that's helpful. What I meant by "not a gas fireplace" was that I did not want a direct vent gas fireplace, but rather gas logs in an existing firebox. Those are fine as heaters or in non-chimney settings, but in this room I've decided on gas logs as the way to go.Thanks for the suggestions.
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I have a 30 year old house with an enormous fireplace in the family room. The surround and hearth are brick, the opening is 6ft wide x 8ft high, and while it gives a great "ski lodge" impression, it's not very practical. It is located on an interior wall. My question is, what is involved in reconfiguring the fireplace by reducing the size of the firebox and surround to a more conventional size?