Making a cavity in Brick Veneer

Hi guys . I am getting an inbuilt Gas log fire installed to an external wall in a Brk Veneer 2 storey house. The people we have purchased it from are doing the installation, they have to knock a hole thru the brickwork and install a support for the remaining brickwork, which all sounds fine. But our house is only 2 yrs old and nobody seems to to be able to tell me if by doing this we are voiding our structural warranty with our builder...I would appreciate if anybody could answer this question, iwould appreciate any advice.....Thanks !!! Dunnie

Its really the sort of question only settled by lawyers at ten paces.

The simple answer is that it will depend on your builder. A good builder would fix structual problems without too much agrivation.

But some will look for any excuse for getting out of a callback at their expense, and they will claim that the work done by the fireplace company caused excessive vibrations in the mainsail jib leading to brittle failure in the silicone seal which let dihydrogen monoxide infiltrate the port fusilage anchor restraint...which caused a boundary subduction zone that removed the entire footing strip to the wall that just fell down.

And you'll have to take them to MBA/HIA/court (whatever is set down in the contract) to prove otherwise.

Which explains why I generally do my own work!:D

Hi Dunnie,

I spent several years installing oil heaters in the 60's and we were always making holes in brick veneer walls and the hole usually spanned over at least 3 studs in the wall. We would first of all cut the hole in the brickwork and install a steel angle archbar to support the brickwork above the hole although in a new home the brickwork would support itself because of it being cement mortor. I have also installed them in old lime mortor brickwork and as far as I know none of the houses suffered any structural damage and fallen down.

Bear in mind the the brick work on a brick veneer is not the structural part of the building as it is only a asthetic veneer that keeps the water out.

It is actually your timber or steel frame that is the structual part of the building and providing any cut studs are adequately supported the structural integrity of the building should not be compromised.

In the stud wall we would cut the centre stud and then install a support noggin and a short stud on each side of the heater hole to support the cut stud.

Provided your installer does this you would not have any problems and bear in mind you installation company should be licenced to do any of this work and you need to ask to see their licence thats shows the type of work they are licenced to undertake and this should be shown on their licence.

Brickwork is self supporting.
The added bar ony supports the few bricks just above it.

Most brickwork is half bond, make a hole 3 bricks wide and the bar only supports the 2 bricks in the middle, the other bricks are supported by the rest of the brickwork.

Al :)