Seattle WA fireplace retro-fit
This project involves demolishing a portion of an existing fireplace to make addtional space for installing either a standard or customized eco firebox masonry heater kit. The finished fireplace will have a ash pit and clean out either within the living room or outside. The unit will also have either a black or white oven above the firebox. (white oven being a vault heated by flue gasses surrounding it and a black oven above the firebox allowing wood smoke and gasses to pass through it. Lets discuss the pros/cons of both to help you make this decision)
Step one we needed to determine the supported space available to us to install the eco firebox. If one were to demolish parts of the internal fireplace systems one can recover wasted space to help hide and or embed the eco firebox into the cavity.
The internals of fireplaces are common and the size of its opening dictates the dimensions of its internals. Standards by organizations like the national Fire Protection Association, International Brick Association and ASTM provide sizing guidelines for such dimensions usually based on heating a particular size room. Based on the size of the Bryant’s living room the smallest fireplace opening size would be a 24×28 (see highlighted chart below) This then will show us how to construct or reverses-engineer the internals of thier fireplace helping us better understand how much additional space would be available after a planned demolition.
Below is the marked up diagram from IBA and sizing chart we used to help determine the size of the fireplaces internals. The yellow highlighted band is the size band used to help estimate the dimensions of the fireplace. Because its a small size band it should also represent a worse case for available space following demolition. We marked the diagram with red numbers indicating the estimated dimensions of the particular systems.
Based on this data we create 2D and 3D models of the exterior and interior.
Determining the potential space available
A 3D cut away shows the minimum size requirements typical for Seattle's size fireplace. This 3D model also shows the shape and individual systems found within a typical american fireplace.
The yellow highlighted areas areas to demo to maximize salvageable space
Remove as much of the face on the sides as possible.
Next we will work with the space to determine if the standard eco firebox fireplace insert kit will fit or is it necessary to modify…
Take a look at the following drawings. This should not require any demolition and only projects an additional 16″ from face of existing fireplace
View from living room coming in from front door
Here’s a sample drawing adding detail to your fireplace, the base is the width of your existing fireplace and is stepped in with stone and or cast masonry mantel
Design Ideas
An existing brick corbel and concrete padused as part of cantilever support for fireplace above
The beginning of demolition of the fireplace
Design and style the customer would like to incorporate into the finished product including a bake oven
We need the following existing fireplace firebox dimensions
