Struggling to find the lintel

[Griff_me]

Hi,

I have recently purchased a Hunter Herald 6 wood burner and have come to open up the fireplace to install it. The issue I am having is finding the lintel.

I'd like to remove the vertical bricks and the row above these to make
Space for the flue and to have some airspace above the fire but I'm worried that there isn't any real lintel there in the first place... Any experience folk out there got any ideas? There is a metal rod right under the lowest bricks but this doesn't actually touch some of them!

The second issue I've found is that I think someone has removed a layer of bricks from the supports either side of the fireplace. If you look carefully, there are 'steps' in the rear corners behind the fire where I think the bricks should continue from. Perhaps someone decided to make the opening wider?

What are your thoughts?

Thanks in advance.

 

[bholler]

That soldier course of brick is your lintel. To raise the opening you will need to insert a steel lintel up higher then remove the brick below. But honestly it looks like you have plenty of height there even after you build some floor protection.

 

[LondonNeil]

Oh dear, yes those jambs looks to have been attacked. Usual is jambs 8" or wider. I'd get a structural engineer in to take a look at yours. Since they are still wider at the back under the gathers there may be enough...well there must be as it hasn't come crashing down, but hmm, well, it doesn't look good.

as for the lintel, as bholler says.

Best guide for UKself installers I ofund is the stovefittersmanual, here's a page you want http://www.stovefittersmanual.co.uk/articles/opening-up-a-fireplace/

 

[Destructor]

Those bricks are acting as a jack arch except they are not angled as they should be. The rod below the bricks looks like it was put there to support the bricks until the mortar cured. The reason that is holding is because the span over the opening is not too great. A natural arch is formed over a masonry opening but those lower bricks could conceivably fall out.