Hi folks,

I am currently doing up an old sandstone tenement flat in Glasgow, and discovered that 2 of the bedrooms have old flues for gas fires (themselves now removed) going through the wall under the window bays.

The previous owner's solution was just to leave the flues in there (cut off flush with the wall), and stick some hardboard over the end! This is obviously unsatisfactory, as the draft comes out round the edge of the board, the board is a bit moldy from damp, and it looks crap.

I am planning on taking out the remainders of the flue pipes (and the vents on the outside), and filling the hole. It's more than wide enough to stick my fist through, and goes through at least 6 inches of solid sandstone on the way out (possibly more).

I am happy enough that I will be able to sort the inside, but I was wondering if anyone has any suggestions for the best way to fill the hole in the wall/stone, and cover it up on the outside to make it weather proof? My intial response to big holes is usually expanding foam, but perhaps that isn't the best solution in this case? I would also need to put some kind of cement/mortar on to vaguely match the outside wall (although it is pretty patchily coloured grey, brown, orange).

One other factor - it's more than 20ft up from the ground, so the only access is hanging out the window! (or hiring a very long ladder...).

Any suggestions appreciated!

Cheers
Ali

Hi Ali, can do a picture (of the outside), it will help a lot on this one, answer will probably vary depending on the stonework.

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Why isn't the number 11 pronounced onety one?

No bother:





For scale, that's my hand in the second one, so the flue is about 6 inches across.

As you can see it comes out right through the window sill, so attaching some kind of vent cover to hide it would be tricky.

Cheers in advance for any tips!

Im surprised no one has advised on this yet.

Not made it easy have they.
I know there are repair mortars for sandstone, which give good colour matching, but other than that, cant advise much more, not really my line of work.

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Why isn't the number 11 pronounced onety one?

Just q suggestion , maybe put mortar into the hole, then get a piece of sandstone and cut it to shape? It's very soft, with a core drill or mini grinder it wouldn't be a big job. The window cill , be a bit hard to colour match..., you could use a resin to stick that bit.

How about take the vent off and block up the hole with a 1/2 brick and mortar, put the vent back on (just to hide the brick / mortar).
Fill remaining hole from inside with loft insulation / expanding foam.
Cover inside hole with plaster board and make good.

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Mike

Leave the flue pipe in position. Cut a plastic disc the size of the pipe and silicone into position well down the pipe. Fill pipe on inside of the disc with expanding foam. Job done.

Thanks for the tips all, apologies for not replying sooner!

Think I will try one or more of these, see how I get on. Will try and let you know what works.

Cheers

Hi all,

Thanks for the ideas. Good suggestions. Keeping the flue in turned out to be impractical, as it didn't fit the hole well, and would have ended up being drafty.

In the end, I found most of the bits of wall that had been knocked out in the wall cavity. So what we did was use those to block up the hole, fix them from the inside with expanding foam, and then mortar them in position from the outside. I was hoping I would manage to leave some of the sandstone I used to fill the hole showing through the mortar, but it seems I'm not that precise at applying it when upside down out of a window...

Picture attached. Not the prettiest job ever, but weatherproof I'd wager, and better than what the neighbours have done (i.e. leaving a sodding great hole for the pigeons to nest in).

I have another one to do in the next room, so maybe one day I'll try and patch up the sills too, if I can find some matching rock.

Cheers all

Must've missed this thread

I just add beige tile grout to the mortar and it goes almost the right colour. We do it all the time when putting flues in stone properties.

Well it might help for the next one

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Ha, good idea!

I've got a bag of that stuff lying about as well - oh well

Will try it next time