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Fireplace removal & blocking up — Chester & Ellesmere Port
Fireplace Removal & Blocking Up
in Chester & Ellesmere Port
Chester’s Victorian terraces in Hoole and Handbridge often still have a fireplace in the bedrooms, and the later estates at Blacon, Upton and Vicars Cross usually have a gas fire in the living room. Quirks Property Maintenance Ltd takes out fireplaces that are no longer wanted across Chester, Ellesmere Port and the villages between, then closes, insulates, vents and skims the opening and runs new skirting across. Boarded-up fireplaces can be opened again too. Part of our fireplace removal and blocking up service across North Wales, Cheshire and Wirral.
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In short: unwanted fireplaces and hearths taken out across Chester and Ellesmere Port, each opening framed, insulated and vented, and the wall left skimmed with new skirting — or a boarded-up fireplace opened again.
Local housing
Chester’s houses and their fireplaces
Much of Chester’s older housing — the Georgian townhouses near the walls and the Victorian and Edwardian terraces of Hoole, Handbridge, Boughton and the Garden Quarter — was built with a fireplace in nearly every room, bedrooms included. Many are still there: a cast-iron grate behind a wardrobe, a tiled surround in the back room, a later gas fire in the front. Where they have already been closed, it was often with a sheet of board and no vent, which is how a damp patch can turn up on a chimney breast years later.
The inter-war and post-war estates — Blacon, Upton, Vicars Cross, Great Boughton — usually have one fireplace, in the living room, with a tiled surround or a gas fire fitted later and, in some houses, a back boiler behind it. Ellesmere Port’s housing is largely twentieth-century and tends to be the same. These are generally the simpler jobs, but the gas has to be dealt with first.
None of this tells us what is behind your fireplace. The age of the house only tells us what to expect; the photographs, or the opening itself, tell us the rest.
Areas of Chester and Ellesmere Port we cover
- Hoole
- Handbridge
- Boughton
- Great Boughton
- Vicars Cross
- Upton
- Newton
- Blacon
- Lache
- Curzon Park
- Christleton
- Waverton
- Ellesmere Port
- Great Sutton
- Little Sutton
- Whitby
We cover the CH1 to CH4 postcode districts in Chester, CH65 and CH66 in Ellesmere Port, and the villages around them.
We also cover Flintshire and Deeside and the Wirral — all from our base in Ewloe.
CHESTER | FIREPLACE REMOVED AND OPENING CLOSED
Recent fireplace removal project
A homeowner in Chester wanted a disused fireplace taken out and the chimney breast left as a flat wall. We removed the surround and hearth, closed the opening with an insulated timber stud frame, fitted a ventilation grille and skimmed the wall ready for decoration.
A timber surround, tiled insert and slate hearth
The fireplace sat in the chimney breast between two sets of fitted shelves: a dark timber surround with a panelled frieze, blue-grey tiles around a small black opening, and a slate hearth set into the floorboards.
With shelving tight to both sides and a boarded floor running up to the hearth, the work had to come out cleanly without disturbing what was around it.
Opening framed, insulated and boarded
The floor was covered with self-adhesive floor protection before anything came out. The surround, the hearth and their fixings were then dismantled and removed, and the loose material cleared from the opening. The floorboards were already in place beneath the hearth.
A timber stud frame was built in the opening on a damp-proof course, with insulation fitted in the studwork, and faced with plasterboard. An opening was cut low down for a ventilation grille. A redundant flue still needs air moving through it; sealing it completely is a common cause of condensation and damp in a chimney breast.
A flat wall with a vent and matching skirting
The plasterboard joints were taped and the wall skimmed. A white ventilation grille was fitted over the vent opening, and new skirting board was fitted across the chimney breast to match the existing profile as closely as possible.
Our work finished at the skim. The wall was decorated afterwards by others, and the photograph shows it after that decoration.
This case study covers one fireplace in one room: the removal of the surround and hearth, the insulated stud closure, the ventilation grille, the skim and the skirting. It does not cover decoration, the floor, or any work to the chimney above the room.
- Self-adhesive floor protection laid to the working area
- Fireplace surround, hearth and fixings dismantled and removed
- Loose material cleared from the opening
- Timber stud frame built in the opening on a damp-proof course
- Insulation fitted in the studwork
- Plasterboard fixed, joints taped and the wall skimmed
- Ventilation grille fitted to the redundant flue
- Skirting board fitted to match the existing profile as closely as possible
- Decoration not included
Project Information
| Request | Disused fireplace removed and the opening closed |
| Service | Fireplace removal and blocking up |
| Works | Surround and hearth removed; insulated timber stud frame on a damp-proof course; plasterboard and skim; ventilation grille; skirting to match |
| Not included | Decoration (by others); floor; chimney above the room |
| Location | Chester |
What customers say about our fireplace work
Three of the reviews our fireplace customers have left on Google.
★★★★★“Recently had some work done where we asked for old electric fireplace to be removed, chimney breast stabilised and plastered up. Communication beforehand was excellent. Lads that did the work were polite and cleaned up after themselves and always turned up at expected times. Wouldn’t hesitate to go with this company again.”
★★★★★“Excellent, efficient work from Quirks! Made removing our old gas fireplace and replacing it with a neat plastered cubby and absolute breeze. Really friendly personable people who I’d recommend in a heartbeat.”
★★★★★“This company were very responsive, competitive pricing and brilliant work. Turned up exactly when agreed, completed the work to a very high standard and very professional throughout. Would highly recommend.”
Fireplaces we remove
Most of the fireplaces we are asked to take out have not been lit for years. These are the ones we are asked about most:
- Gas fires and their surrounds, once the gas has been disconnected
- Electric fires and fire suites
- Timber, tiled, stone and marble surrounds, with their back panels and hearths
- Cast-iron fireplaces and inserts — set aside for you where you want to keep or sell them
- Raised, tiled and stone hearths
- Fireplaces that were boarded over years ago with no vent
What is left is a flat wall: the opening closed — boarded, bricked up or filled in, whichever suits the wall — and insulated, a vent fitted, the wall skimmed and the skirting run across. If you would rather have a fireplace opened up than closed, we do that as well.
Not sure what yours involves? Send a photo on WhatsApp or by email.
Ventilation
Why a closed fireplace still needs a vent
A chimney does not stop being part of the house when the fire goes out. Rain still falls on the pot, damp air from the room still finds its way into the flue, and the soot left inside holds salts that draw moisture out of the air. While the fireplace is open, the air moving up the flue carries that moisture away.
Close the opening tight and the air stops moving. Months later the moisture can show as a damp patch or a brown stain on the chimney breast — a common fault where a fireplace was blocked up in the past with no vent. So a fireplace we close is given air:
At the bottom. A grille low in the new wall — or, where the chimney is built on an outside wall, air bricks outside, with nothing to see in the room.
At the top. The pot should carry a cap or cowl that keeps rain and birds out but lets air through — never sealed solid. That is roof-level work, priced in the quotation where you want it done: see chimney repairs.
A flue that still serves a boiler, a stove or a fire in another room has to stay open. And if a chimney breast that was blocked up years ago is already showing damp, the cause needs finding first: see chimney damp.
Fireplace removal, blocking up and opening up
Inset gas fire in a green wall above a marble hearth, marked with a green cross
Fireplaces removed
Gas, electric and solid-fuel fires, surrounds, inserts and hearths dismantled and taken away.
Fireplace opening in a green wall closed with plasterboard and fitted with a white vent grille, above a marble hearth slab
Openings closed and vented
The opening framed, insulated and boarded, with a vent so that the chimney can still breathe.
Chimney breast with a skimmed patch where a fireplace was closed, a white vent grille and new skirting, on bare floorboards
Walls skimmed
The closure, the chimney breast or the whole wall plastered, and the skirting run across to match as closely as possible.
Fireplace opening in a white chimney breast with a concrete lintel set in fresh mortar over the brick recess
Fireplaces opened up
Old closures and infill taken out and the opening made good, for your installer or as an open recess.
The method
How we close a fireplace opening
- Protection first. Floors are covered and dust sheets go down before anything comes out. Soot travels.
- Fire, surround and hearth out. They are taken apart and carried out, and the loose soot and rubble behind them are cleared away.
- Framed, insulated and boarded. A timber stud frame goes into the opening, standing on a damp-proof course; insulation is fitted between the studs and the face is closed with plasterboard. Where a solid closure suits the wall better, the opening is bricked up instead.
- Vented. A grille low in the new wall, or air bricks outside.
- Skimmed and skirted. The joints are taped, the wall is skimmed, and new skirting is run across in the closest match to the old profile that we can get.
- Left clean. The waste goes with us, and the wall is left in fresh plaster, ready to decorate once it has dried. Decorating is not part of the job unless the quotation says so.
Plastering
How much of the wall needs plastering?
What you live with afterwards is the plaster, and there are three ways to finish it.
- The closure only. The least work, and often enough on a wall that will be papered or have furniture against it — but under paint the outline of the old fireplace can show.
- The chimney breast. The whole face of the breast is plastered from corner to corner, so the new plaster ends at the corners, not in the middle of the wall.
- The whole wall. Where the fireplace sat in a flat wall with no breast, or the old plaster round it is poor.
We tell you which we would do when we have seen your photographs, and the quotation says which one it covers. If more of the room needs plastering at the same time, see plastering.
Hearth and floor
What happens to the hearth and the floor
The hearth you can see — tiles, slate, stone or marble — usually lifts out with the fireplace. What is underneath decides the rest.
- Floorboards. Sometimes the boards carry on under the hearth and nothing more is needed.
- A concrete slab in a timber floor. Older houses usually have a concrete hearth cast into the floor. It can stay, ready for your floor covering, or be broken out and the floor boarded across. If the fireplace might ever be opened up again, it is worth keeping.
- A solid floor. Lifting the hearth can leave a shallow area to be levelled.
The quotation says in writing whether the floor is made good by us or left ready for your floor fitter. Carpet, laminate and other floor finishes are not part of the job unless the quotation says so.
Opening up
Opening up a fireplace
Many fireplaces were boarded or bricked up when central heating went in, and are still there behind the wall. Opening one up is building work, and it is the part we do:
- The board, brickwork or infill taken out, and the opening cleared back to the original brickwork
- The lintel or arch over the opening checked
- The brickwork inside repaired and repointed, or re-faced in brick
- A hearth formed or re-laid
- A timber beam or a plastered finish round the opening, and the wall made good
What we do not do is supply or fit the stove, the fire or the flue liner. A stove has to be fitted by an installer registered to sign off their own work — HETAS is the usual scheme — or be approved through Building Control. A gas fire has to be fitted by a Gas Safe registered engineer. They also check whether the chimney needs sweeping, testing or lining — until they have, an opened-up fireplace is a recess, and nothing should be lit in it. Ask your installer for the opening and hearth sizes, and how far a timber beam has to be kept from the stove, before we start, and we build to them.
Where the lintel has failed, or the opening is to be made wider or taller than it was built, the chimney breast above has to be carried on a new lintel. That is structural work: see lintel repair and replacement.
Chimney breasts
Taking the chimney breast out as well
Closing a fireplace leaves the chimney breast where it is. Taking the breast out to win back the floor space is a bigger job, and a different kind of job: whatever is above it — the breast in the bedroom, the stack in the loft and on the roof — still has to be held up. So it needs:
- A structural engineer’s design for whatever carries the brickwork left above — normally steel.
- A Building Regulations application, so that the work is approved by Building Control.
- Written notice to your neighbour, where the chimney is on a shared wall. The party wall rules usually apply, and that is for the two owners to settle.
We take out chimney breasts as part of our structural alterations work — the steel, the brickwork and the plastering as one job. Send photographs of the breast in each room it runs through, and of the stack outside.
Who it is for
Who we work for
Homeowners
One fireplace or several, closed or opened up, quoted in writing before anything starts.
Landlords and letting agents
A gas fire nobody uses is still an appliance on the yearly gas safety check. Once it has been disconnected we take it out, close and vent the opening and leave the wall ready to decorate — arranged with the tenant, by DBS-checked operatives, with photographs and an invoice for your records.
Commercial and public buildings
Redundant fireplaces closed off in offices, shops and converted buildings, with risk assessments, method statements and DBS-checked operatives where the site requires them.
Before we start
Gas, electrics and asbestos: what has to happen first
Three things come before the building work.
- Gas. A gas fire, and any back boiler behind it, is disconnected and the supply capped off by a Gas Safe registered engineer.
- Electrics. An electric fire that is wired into the wall is disconnected by a NAPIT registered electrician.
- Asbestos. Asbestos board was sometimes fitted behind and around fires in houses built or altered before 2000, and it cannot be identified by eye. Where we think a material may contain it — before we start, or once the fire is out — we stop and tell you. Having it tested is for you to arrange, and we carry on once the result is back and, if it is asbestos, once it has been dealt with.
The gas and electrical work is arranged as part of the job, or we follow on after your own engineer has been.
Your questions
Fireplace removal FAQs: Chester & Ellesmere Port
Do I need consent to take a fireplace out of a listed house in Chester?
You may well, so check before anything is booked. Chester has hundreds of listed buildings, and listing protects the inside of a house as well as the outside — an original fireplace included. The conservation team at Cheshire West and Chester Council is who to ask. If they agree to the work, we follow the conditions they set.
Can you take out a bedroom fireplace and leave the one downstairs in use?
Yes. Each fireplace normally has its own flue inside the chimney, so closing one should not affect the others. The one we close gets its own vent, and the rest carry on as they are. If two fireplaces look as though they share a flue, we tell you before anything is closed.
We are having a wood burner fitted — can you open the fireplace up first?
Yes. Give us the sizes your stove installer wants for the recess and the hearth, and we take out whatever is blocking the old fireplace, check what is holding up the chimney breast above it, repair the brickwork and lay the hearth. Fitting the stove and lining the flue stay with your installer, who certifies that side of it.
Do you cover Ellesmere Port and the villages around Chester?
Yes. Ellesmere Port, Great Sutton, Little Sutton and Whitby are all covered, along with Christleton, Waverton and the villages between Chester and the Welsh border.
How much does fireplace removal cost in Chester?
Three things move it most. Any gas fire is disconnected before it comes out. A period fireplace that you want to keep takes longer to remove in one piece than one that is being thrown away. And plastering the full chimney breast is more work than skimming the patch. Most jobs we can price from photographs — send yours on WhatsApp or by email and we’ll come back with a written quotation.
Cost
What affects the cost of removing a fireplace
A small gas fire on a flat wall and a marble surround with a raised hearth are different jobs, so a figure published here would be wrong for most of the people reading it. What moves the price is the fireplace itself, and whether anything has to be disconnected or tested before it comes out; what is under the hearth; how much of the wall is plastered; and whether the vent is a grille in the room or air bricks outside. Opening a fireplace up is priced on what is found behind the wall — the brickwork, the lintel, and the hearth and finish you want. The written quotation gives the price and says what it covers.
Request a quotation
Tell us about the fireplace and attach a couple of photographs — one of the whole wall and one close up.
How it works
Send us a photo, we’ll take it from there
You don’t need to describe the problem down the phone. A photo tells us most of what we need.
- 1WhatsApp or email us photos.A couple of pictures of the problem and your postcode.
- 2We reply with what it looks like and what happens next.Where the photos show enough, that’s a price. If they don’t, we’ll ask for a few more.
- 3You get a written quotation.A clear scope of works, so you know what is included.
- 4We do the work and leave it clean.
Fireplace removal — send us photographs
Get a written quotation from your photos
Send a photo of the fireplace on WhatsApp or by email, with your postcode, and tell us whether you want it closed or opened up. We will tell you what is involved and what happens next. Office 01244 638219.
WhatsApp or email gets the quickest reply. We come back to you as soon as we can.
Written and reviewed by Michael Quirk, Director.