I'm about to fit a tiled, cast iron fire surround in the living room of our Edwardian terrace and wanted to check I'm heading in the right direction.
I have laid a slate hearth already and the opening in the surround is the same width as the existing fire back.
In an ideal world, I'd strip everything out, widen the aperture and recess the cheeks of the fire surround into the chimney so the surround sat flush against the chimney breast but in the interest of dirt, mess, and time, I wondered if a simpler solution would get the job done safely.
I was planning on placing the surround as close to the chimney breast as possible, building a temporary timber mould around it and filling the void between the 'legs' of the surround and the chimney breast with fire bricks and fire cement in order to eliminate any void. I'd then do the same to bridge the horizontal stretch at the top of the surround (between the two tiled cheeks) and finally use the cement to create an upwards taper under the
hood of the surround , drawing air up into the chimney breast when the fire is alight.
This is feasible with the dimensions of wooden mantel I'm going to finish it off with, I just want to check that my approach is safe and that I haven't overlooked anything?
