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Chimney & Fireplace

Best way to go about widening an existing hole in the wall.

Smith 26/02/2026 - 8.59 AM

I have a house from the 60’s. There was an awful electric fire when I bought it, I’ve removed it there was a small hole in the wall, after removing the rest of the fire surrounding, I think there was a gas in here before due to a pipe in the floor. I bought a cast iron fireplace for the room, I won’t be using it for lighting actual fires so I don’t need any of the accommodations or building regs for that, as it’s essentially decoration but I need to make the existing hole larger to accommodate the fireplace. Is it something I can just crack on with myself or do I need to take anything more into consideration?

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1 Answer

StoveMaster

Rating: 5 out of 5

Scarborough

As long as you don't touch the gas pipe as it could still be live, you can open the chimney, upto the original opening size as it will have made smaller over the years, to accommodate smaller fires. As long as you don't remove any arches or lintels that may be there no building regs requires because as you said it's only decorative. Hope this helps

Answered26 February 2026