www.ultimatehandyman.co.uk

Stove in fireplace alcove (looking at mags, its this seasons "must have"). House dates from 1860ish. It was built by the railway and built to last! The brick pillars supporting the chimney start off two bricks wide (end on), then the bricks are face on, not end on and it gets wider by a brick width each side.

So our lad decides that it will make more room in the alcove if he removes the sticking out bricks (I did ask my dad - he's a civil and structural eng - and he agreed it was not structural...) I'll draw a veil over the dust and the rubble and the noise thus far all chimney pots are intact

BUT how best to replaster the now rough brickwork prior to putting up groovy French tiles? Do we use PVA then bonding,? or browning and bonding? Or have I been at the wrong section of FAQ??

I'd pve the brickwork with pva and then give it a coat of bonding plaster, this is much easier to use than browning in my opinion.

Or you could dry line the area with plasterboard, but this will decrease the size of the opening slightly.

thanx for that, think we will go with pva and bonding. Having gone thru the agony of widening the area (and the trauma of cutting expensive work top to fit around the fireplace support), loosing some of the space would be

worthless without pics huh? really?

Well I do have some and if i can work out how to put them up here
and you really want to see them...

mind U its friday night and we are plastering the alcove (both first time plastererererers...) with a selection of trowels and a glass of fizzy wine a piece

and VIDEO :LOL:

and VIDEO

No room in that alcove for both of us and a camera!