Do I have to plaster the chimney here?

[Ola78]

I'm working on fixing up a room on our upper floor. When I tore down an original interior wall from when the house was built in 1924, there was only brick where the wall connected to the chimney. Do I have to plaster these? The bricks protrude about 5 cm beyond the chimney. It looks exactly the same on the other side. Otherwise, the rest of the chimney is plastered, it would be nice to avoid plastering the part I described as it's probably not entirely easy since the bricks are not completely even relative to each other. Thanks in advance/Ola

 

[Tyresö]

The fundamental idea of living in an old house is not to try to hide flaws - it is the flaws that give the house its charm. Don't build over minor flaws - highlight them instead! You might be able to bind the dust on the surface, but retain as much of the old as possible.

Personally, I would have chipped off the plaster from the entire chimney to reveal the rough old surface - it's possible I am alone in thinking it's attractive - but I have always liked raw, rough surfaces indoors.

 

[Fixar_Krille]

If the chimney is in use, it is appropriate to plaster it. Cut off the ledges with an angle grinder and plaster over.

 

[Ola78]

The main idea with living in an old house is not to try to hide imperfections - it is the imperfections that give the house its charm. Don't eliminate small imperfections - highlight them instead! You might be able to seal the surface, but retain as much of the old as possible.

Personally, I would have chipped away the plaster on the entire chimney to reveal the rough old surface - it's possible I'm alone in thinking that's nice - but I've always liked raw rough surfaces indoors.

I agree with you that one should try to preserve the old if possible, but the old wall was against the brick before, so it never really showed before either, so there's not much to highlight. Regarding the plaster, I would like to keep it since it's original from when the house was built and actually has a very raw texture which I think is charming. Chimneys shouldn't be too smoothly plastered.

Fixar_krille, the idea is that we should be able to use the tiled stoves in the future, but is it required to plaster the entire chimney? If so, thank you for your tip about cutting off the brackets with an angle grinder.

 

[Eld]

It is a fire safety requirement that the chimney be plastered up to the outer roof. I received a remark from the chimney sweep that my 70-year-old chimney was unplastered (and has always been unplastered) in the attic when I had a newly installed fireplace inspected. The fireplace was correctly installed and the chimney was sealed but unplastered in the attic. He demanded that it be plastered, so I will have to stand on my head in the insulation, extend my arms by half a meter, and add another joint to my forearm to reach and plaster the "back" of the chimney in the attic without opening the outer roof. If I'm going to do it at this time of year, I will also likely have to place a construction heater in sawdust and eco-fiber for a while to get above freezing in the attic. Safe, right? :-/ I'll probably wait until spring.

Those of you who remove plaster to see the beautiful brickwork on the chimney. It might come back to bite you at the next fire safety inspection...

 

[Ola78]

Thank you for the answer Eld, it was as I feared that you had to plaster the entire chimney. I thought I had heard it sometime before but wasn't sure. In any case, I have cut off the brick ledges, so it's just a matter of getting on with the plastering work.

 

[Jan-Å]

>Fire
I don't doubt what you're writing, but I don't understand how the chimney sweep was thinking, do you? I mean, a chimney made of bricks that somehow cracks causing holes between the flue and the outside, would it remain sealed due to the plaster? My experience with plaster is that it cracks in the same place as the "wall" it's attached to, but maybe that's not the case with a chimney? As a layman, the argument doesn't seem sustainable, but what do I know? When we had our chimney inspected and pressure tested before installing an insert in the fireplace, it leaked in the same way as Ola78's, i.e., in the attic, and it can't be plastered on the back without opening the roof. But our chimney sweep said that it's the inside, meaning the flue that is sealed, not the outside, so we ran one of those stainless steel liners through ours and then it was fine, approved without any issues.

 

[Eld]

The motive, according to the chimney sweep, is that it is easier to see if the chimney has cracked or if the plaster/joints are bad if it is plastered.

 

[Tyresö]

"Fire"

But does the chimney really need to be cleaned? I've seen on some building show on TV where they pulled an internal pipe straight through the chimney. Shouldn't that be enough? It should at least be 1000 times easier.

 

[Wester]

We have our chimney entirely brick clean and that's okay because the flues are slip-cast, otherwise plaster would be required.

 

[Eld]

The chimney is slip-cast in two of the flue pipes and has stainless steel pipe in the third one. However, the chimney sweep still required rendering on the outside.