"tom w" wrote in message
...
Hi,

Having removed the carpet and old gas fire in the lounge of our 30s semi,
we
found the opening to the chimney in decent condition (lintel still
present,
concrete base for tiled hearth still in place) and we've found an original
30s fireplace to fit. We bought a fireback, grate, hearth tiles etc with
the
fireplace and now we're ready to install. We though that we'd get a
'competent person' (as in new regs) to do the fitting, just to keep the
right side of the council, however, the local 'expert' fireplace fitter
has
quoted us £350 + VAT for the install! He seemed to think the fit was quite
straightforward, so I can't understand the price. Is this a job that a
reasonable competent DIYer can do themselves? Am I being naive to think
that
the price is OTT? Can anyone recommend a good source of advice when it
comes
to installing fireplaces?

Many thanks


Take it that the gas supply is in place then, so no additional pipework to
run back to the meter?

If you're in the S.W London area I could put you in touch with the installer
that fitted mine - that came to about £260 inc vat, there may have been an
additional charge for running the pipework back to the meter (didn't have
existing supply in that room).

When I looked into it fireplace fitting didn't appear to be straightforward
so decided not to d-i-y. Given the well-publicised accident last year when
a child was killed by an insecurely fixed fireplace it gave me additional
peace of mind.



--
Richard Sampson

email me at
richard at olifant d-ot co do-t uk