How to approach opening up closed-off fireplace?

After living in various apartments for 25 years, I will be closing on a 110 year old detached wood house in Ditmas Park tomorrow. The place is in good shape overall (fortunately for a clueless first-time house owner like me), but we do plan to do cosmetic work on it, and also hope to restore the fireplace that we’re pretty sure was once in the living room (telltale signs: a chimney visible on the roof and as an exposed brick column in the basement; bump out in the wall with a mantel-shaped area in front of it where the original wood was very obviously replaced). How would I even start to approach something like this? Would a good GC know how to start? Or, should I go directly to some sort of fireplace specialist? I’ve read that opening up an old fireplace can spread soot everywhere, so I’d imagine it would be best to attempt this before painting? Also, we’d rather install a good gas fireplace than a wood-burning one, but don’t know how this would change things (i f at all). Can anyone point me in a good direction to get started looking into this?? Any help would be greatly appreciated!

karindrew

in General Discussion 7 years and 10 months ago

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cobblehillbilly | 7 years and 10 months ago

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I third Andre of AA Fireplace.

MacD | 7 years and 10 months ago

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Dave – Who could ever forget the giant sucking sound that was created by your moving south to Pennsylvania 😉 I know you left in 2012, but was hoping you found a little pied a terre somewhere close by. Thanks for the information about the fireplace. That is really helpful! I wish you had a list of all of the resources you used when you were around the corner. Your input is always so helpful and really necessary! Thank you.

cmu | 7 years and 10 months ago

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> It’s no different than having a few burners on your range going.

Agreed completely. At 12-15kbtu, it’s ONE burner on a Wolff range!
I doubt you’ll convince anyone though, the website makes a strong point about venting, no doubt for liability reasons.

daveinbedstuy | 7 years and 10 months ago

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I’ve posted this countless times before. A good gas burning fake coal unit from http://www.victorianfireplaceshop.com/gas-coals-gas-coal-baskets.html can be installed WITHOUT a vented flue. Though the directions say it needs to be vented, it does not. The premier restorrer of fireplaces in Philadlephia did a VERY large mansion for a friend of mine. He opened up one fireplace to burn wood and put these in two others. Flues were closed off at the damper and in fact, a piece of reflective aluminum was installed there too to reflect the heat back inside the room. I was there when they were installed and he showed with a CO meter that there were no fumes. It’s no different than having a few burners on your range going. I installed one in my Bed Stuy house including reflective aluminum and had many nice fires with it. You will need to pipe a gas line to the fireplace without permits though. http://www.victorianfireplaceshop.com/gas-coals-gas-coal-baskets.html

williamsburgguys | 7 years and 10 months ago

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We have 4 original fireplaces that were sealed over when we bought our house which we re-opened and installed newly refinished antique mirrored oak mantles from junk stores and from neighbors down the street, hearths, etc. We bought alcohol-gel Log-sets from Home Depot and Walmart.com which burn canned ethanol gel and give off a slight amount of heat, no odor or smoke, and only produce water vapor as a byproduct. The logsets look like real wood and the effect is perfect but easy to use with no ashes or the issues finding wood and the smoke and odor and noxious gasses. Really nice to have for that fun Thanksgiving or Christmas family gathering that burn like real wood or gas but are cheap and require no special venting or modifications. In fact with ethanol gel you can burn it in special vases on your coffee table with no fireplace at all. The rest of the year they look like nice fireplaces in every room and add to the authenticity of our 120 year old house.

daveinbedstuy | 7 years and 10 months ago

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No. Left Brooklyn in 2012 when I retired. In PA & MA now. Hope you are well.

MacD | 7 years and 10 months ago

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Hi Dave – I’m doing really well. Missing you. Hardly get time to get onto this board anymore. Did you buy a place in Bklyn? Are you baaaccckkkk?????

dmcsr71 | 7 years and 10 months ago

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You can retrofit the space with a gas fireplace. Valor make a nice one that looks like an original Victorian fireplace (Portrait Windsor Arch). It is direct vent unit so does have a glass front on the firebox, but the design of the unit hides the glass quite well. The venting is done by a 6 inch diameter metal pipe that could go up through the existing chimney (check the chimney is not already being used to vent your hot water/HVAC units as this is quite often done). There are several companies that do this in the area and the quote will be about $5K for the unit and installation only. For other extras like mantles and cosmetic work you’ll need to add a contractor and that will add to the cost. Alternatively you can buy the units directly from Victorian Fireplace Shop (search online) and they’ll ship you all the parts and your general contractor can install it, assuming you can find a contractor who knows enough about gas installations. This way you avoid paying two installers but you need to have faith in your contractor.

The other solution would be to restore the ch imney and fireplace to working condition. A company like Big Apple could help you out here. There’s rules and regs about this but the DOB would not know the fireplace wasn’t already working (they’re not that diligent) so you could probably grandfather it in as an existing working fireplace. If you’ve already got the fireplace or home inspected by the DOB though this might not be an option.

daveinbedstuy | 7 years and 10 months ago

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Hi MacD. How you been?????

MacD | 7 years and 10 months ago

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I second the recommendation for Andre. I used him on a project where I needed a new chimney installed and he was terrific and cost-effective.

agdipierro

in General Discussion 7 years and 10 months ago

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contact Andre Buchanan of AA Fireplace (917) 767-6841

mozeeatupu | 7 years and 10 months ago

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As of July 1, 2016 under the new regulations, residents who already have wood-burning fireplaces or who have reconstructed their fireplaces prior to that date, would be allowed to use them.

CarmenR | 7 years and 10 months ago

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mozeeatupu this is only partially correct- new fireplaces cannot be built, but existing ones can be “restored.” I don’t know how the DOB would know if the fireplace you restore was immediately in use prior to the restoration or not. Our fireplace was fully bricked over and partially concrete filled when we restored it to a working condition and the DOB didn’t have anything to say about it.

mozeeatupu | 7 years and 10 months ago

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Wood burning fireplaces not previously is use are no longer allowed. Gas is your only option, and it requires massive work and money.

CarmenR | 7 years and 10 months ago

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Go to a specialist. We used a company referenced here a lot and were not super happy with them, but there’s only a handful of companies who do this and it seems that everyone is very “meh” on their experiences. I will say that their cosmetic work was poor but we’ve had no issue with the fireplace. We did this work within the last 5 years and all three companies that provided a bid quoted us $10k per fireplace. We opened only one, on the parlor floor of our house (we also installed an additional stainless liner in the same stack as the boiler in the cellar vents there as well.)

It’s expensive, but I would do it now as wood burning fireplaces are quickly becoming a thing of the past in nyc.

gemby | 7 years and 10 months ago

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Hi Karin, congratulations on your new old house! I would start with a chimney specialist. We used one company to line a chimney but we were not 100% happy with them. We eventually plan to do a gas fireplace as well, and I’ve seen Big Apple Chimney recommended several times. They may be a good place to start for a first consult.