Renovating a fireplace

Hi all,

We've just pulled out a very, very dodgy looking gas/elecrtic fire from an original fireplace in the renovators delight we've just bought.

Looking at putting a Jetmaster box into the space (using wood not that fake fire stuff!) or getting the brickwork repaired restored to a proper brick fire, but I'm tipping the box will be cheaper!

The main problem is the face of the fireplace is a mix of ugly 70s brick, fake brick, concrete and god knows what else. I had assumed I could sheet the whole think with fibro cement sheet, but someone mentioned it'll turn yellow quickly. Therefore I assume rendering is my only option - but some of the brick looks sealed and rather shiny, will render stick to this? Or is there another sort of sheeting I can face the whole think with that would be even easier?

Cheers,

Ben

>I assume rendering is my only option - but some of the brick looks sealed and rather shiny, will render stick to this?

There is a render that will stick, it is called polymer render (around $55), it covers 8-10sqm. This is the only product we would recommend over a painted / shiny surface. Unfortunately, render is not really recommended on a fireplace, it could possibly crack due to the heating/cooling.

Maybe someone else here has a few ideas on what you could do.

Anyone had any success or failure stories with rendering a fireplace?

Our is painted in a textured paint. You can see the brick lines but it covered the ugly old bricks. Hasn't been there that long so not sure of the longevity ... but it's very easy to do.

It you really plan to use it you should seriously consider what you can get in the way of combustion inserts. That may help with the heat issue as they are very good at directing it all out the front ... also it will be a LOT more efficient to run. There are some really good ones these day, made to suit alod fireplaces ...

dont know how the situation is but i have bricked up many fire places and 80% were rendered with 10+mm sand/cement render and i have not seen one crack from heat etc.
if your that worried is it possible to brick around the fire place with fire bricks to the ceiling and maybe render it with unitex or maybe some rock cladding as in culture stone or stackstone? sometimes a swirl bagging can look affective used from a wet mortar mix!!

let us know wat you come up with and post some pics:2tsup:

Hi TJAY,
we had a 50's textured brick fire place surround & decided to render it. Cleaned using sugar soap, applied bondcrete mix according to instructions - allowed to dry. Applied a render mix with bondcrete in it - according to instuctions. Painted the rendered surface with acrylic paint. This was six years ago & no cracks or blemishes have appeared. We installed an inbuilt wood fired , slow combustion heater & the render is still as good as the day we put it on.
Cheers.

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Anyone had any success or failure stories with rendering a fireplace?

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fondue or fire clay in a small amount to 6:1:1 Mr Scraffiato

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Originally Posted by Border boy

Hi TJAY,
we had a 50's textured brick fire place surround & decided to render it. Cleaned using sugar soap, applied bondcrete mix according to instructions - allowed to dry. Applied a render mix with bondcrete in it - according to instuctions. Painted the rendered surface with acrylic paint. This was six years ago & no cracks or blemishes have appeared. We installed an inbuilt wood fired , slow combustion heater & the render is still as good as the day we put it on.
Cheers.

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I agree with this method. :2tsup: