DEMLITION OF FIREPLACE IN OLD HOUSES

The demolition of a fireplace is a recurring topic in the renovation of typical Belgian houses.

A lot of person asks how it is possible to eliminate the structure and which kind of problem we will meet for the stability of the house. Let's start by explaining that the chimney stack structure is the real structural part often made of bricks. The rest of the fireplace is a decoration, sometimes also made in bricks, but without interest for the building stability.

We can consider two options for the demolition: the first one is to destroy all the fireplace from the cellar until the roof, considering that it will be need to repair the floor for each level and the roof. This is the simplest solution.

The second option is to eliminate the fireplace for one only level. For example we can imagine to put down only the fireplace of the ground floor, preserving the structure for the first floor and in the cellar. this case is a bit more complicated because you will need of an engineer. the solution for stability is to build a metal framework that must support the structure of the chimney of the upper floor. The metal structure must be fixed to the wall with brackets inclined at 45 degrees.

the result will mean that a part of the chimney stack will always be visible on your ceiling as if suspended in space. if you want to completely eliminate this part of the fireplace from the ceiling, it is possible to fit everything into the wooden ceiling but a part of the new metal structure will be incorporated into the fireplace on the upper floor.

In any case, it is always very important to check the thickness of the wooden floor with some tests to understand the advantages and disadvantages. For each kind of intervention, never do this type of work alone but always rely on experts and technicians