Builders opening

danishbacon

We’re cracking on with the kitchen and have come across something I wasn’t expecting in the builders opening that was bricked up, probably in the 60s/70s. 

There’s a rusting pipe installed like a bit of a supportive lintel even though the arch above is the original supporting structure. 

Just trying to get a sense of what it might be before I rip into it. Maybe there was a gas fire at some point that was later even yet again bricked and the lintel was out there at that stage to support the smaller opening?

its just above the plaster in the photo

cheers

Tone71

Looks like a fireplace, the arched brickwork acts as a lintel and the brick courses seem to change, you never know what you might find behind !!

Fuengi

Is it a bit of electrical conduit chased in the wall horizontally? 

hywelg

Fuengi said:

Is it a bit of electrical conduit chased in the wall horizontally? 

Looks more like a piece if Victorian/Edwardian gas piping to me. Hoik it out and point it up. 

hywelg

The vent is the clue. It was a fireplace and the flue needs ventilation.  

What are you intending to do? The arch is perfectly fine supporting the bricks above so you could remove the bricks below if you wanted. If it's a chimney breast that you want to remove you'll need an RSJ to support brickwork above. 

boogieman

If it’s thin and tinny, it could be electrical conduit, if it’s heavy iron it’s more likely to be gas or water. Bit of a weird place to put either gas, water or electrics though. Can you dig the ends out and see if it’s connected to anything or just a random lump of pipe with no purpose shoved in to fill a gap? 

danishbacon

Thanks all for chiming in.

Bit more digging revealed a couple of vertically placed bricks on top of a couple of blocks. The metal bit looks like a pipe, open on both ends, so I’m imagining it functioned as a lintel at some point for the bricks above it but below the arch if there was maybe a gas fire or something along those lines poking out at some point. It’s 1900s, lime mortar and the whole thing was suffocated by the Portland cement. There’s a drain running underneath the entire building at the point of that wall so no surprise that when the render came off some of the lower bricks and mortar on lower left were damp. Will probably just like wash over the the whole thing once it’s done, plan is to stick a stove in (just about 20cm as the opening is not very deep at all, had already done this in the adjacent room). 

Dominic

looking at the bricks on edge ,blocks etc and general mash up I would say that it was a primitive way to pre-stress the course above or just a lazy way to shim it so that they didn't need to cut a split course above 
I would also say it was taken from the wall on the side and was an iron gas mantle supply pipe in it's first life and was just handy for the job at the time

MagicPigDetective

I’ve done a couple of these. Get the sledgehammer out and start whacking. 

danishbacon

So, here’s the result. Also, If my amps didn’t do the trick, I’ve become very good friends with our neighbours now. 

boogieman

So what was that pipe then? 

danishbacon

Pipe was functioning as a lintel for the bricks between it and the arch (there were two pipes, in parallel). Looks like that was done at some point to decrease the size of the opening for a smaller fire. That opening was also reduced in depth so one the first layer of bricks was out, there was a second layer, about as tall as where the pipes were, which ramped up into the flue. That was a tough dismantle as it was very solidly built.