Buying A Fireplace

General Fireplace Questions, what you need to know!

The width of the chimney breast?

The standard width of a fireplace is 54 or 60 inches. If you have a flat wall size is not a problem, however if your chimney breast is less than the standard widths it will restrict the choice of fireplaces you can chose. For those of you with a smaller chimney breast some of the wooden surrounds can be made to size, there is also a limited range of stone fireplaces or cast iron fireplaces which go as small as 30 inches.

Do you have a back boiler?

The height and position of the boiler also has an effect on your choice of fireplaces. In most cases any of our surrounds will fit, however, depending on the location of the back boiler we may have to increase the return (the distance from the front of the leg of the fireplace to the wall) to ensure that the fireplace insert and grate will fit properly. If your back boiler is no longer being used, we will remove it and dispose of it provided it has been disconnected from the water supply, for a cost of €100. If we need to alter the return you will be restricted to wooden fireplace surrounds as it is not possible to alter the return on stone or marble fireplaces.

The chimney opening size.

This is generally only a problem in older houses which may only have a 14 inch opening (or smaller) for the chimney. In order to fit a modern fireplace we need an opening of 21 inches or more in width and of 26 inches in height. The maximum size opening that we will fit it approximately 24 inches in width and 29 inches in height. If the size of your opening is not suitable you will need to contact a builder to have it enlarged or reduced as appropriate.

Are you going to have a solid fuel (coal, wood, peat etc.) fire?

If you wish to have a solid fuel fire, the hearth (the base that the fireplace sits on) will need to be made of either black granite or slate and will need to be jointed. What this means is that the hearth is made in a number of sections which are then joined together. The base of the hearth is reinforced with steel bar and concrete and the joins in the hearth are finished with a black grout. This is to allow expansion and prevent the hearth from cracking as the heat from solid fuels (especially smokeless fuels) will eventually crack it. This also applies to the panel if you chose not to have a cast iron insert. For this reason, coloured hearths and back panels are not suitable for solid fuel.

Looking for a gas fire?

We need to know whether it is for natural gas or LPG (Bottled Gas). The reason for this is that bottled gas is delivered to the fire at a much higher pressure than natural gas. This means that the fire needs different valve and pipe sizes to make sure the flame size is correct. Depending on the fire, the fuel effect (coals, pebbles etc.) may have to be manufactured differently.

Location of Your Premises

We need to know the location of the premises that the fireplace is being fitted in and any problems we may face. For example:-

• Do you have adequate access for the fitters?
• Is it an apartment or an upstairs installation?
• If it is an apartment, are there working elevators?

What type of flue do you have?

There are a number of different types of chimney. If you already have an open fire or are purchasing a house with an open fire there is no problem, however, if you are purchasing a new house we need to know whether it is a Class 1 Flue (standard chimney), a Class 2 Flue (designed for gas fires), a Dunbrik Flue which is designed for gas fires but depending on the flue depth will only take one of our 5” Class 2 fires.

Is your fireplace opening centred on the chimney breast?

In some houses, particularly-semi detached the fireplace opening is off centre. We need to know the distance from the centre of the fireplace opening to the closest wall. This distance will determine the maximum width of the fireplace surround that will fit. The other alternative is to have the chimney breast extended so that the opening is centred.

Do you have an existing fireplace?

No problem. We’ll remove it and take it away for a cost of €75.

Can you change the cast iron insert?

The majority of cast iron inserts are interchangeable so we suggest that you chose the surround you like best and then find a cast iron insert to suit. Obviously square cast iron inserts will not fit in arched surrounds!!

I like that fireplace. Can I have it in a 54”?

The majority of marble surrounds come ‘as is’ and we are not able to alter the sizes, however, we can change the size of the majority of the wooden surrounds to suit your chimney breast.