Fire place remodel

[Teesha89]

Hiya I am currently looking to update my old fireplace in my house. It was previously tiled with old fashioned tiled all around the fireplace. I have removed the tiles as I want to tile the whole chimney breast not just the surround. The thing is the actual surround is protruding out about 5inch from the wall..... And the front of the fire is flush with that. Can I knock the cement out creating this 5 inch box on the front of the chimeny... Push the fire box back further into the wall so it's flush with the Wall and just tile around the whole thing? See picture for ref. Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[bholler]

Hiya I am currently looking to update my old fireplace in my house. It was previously tiled with old fashioned tiled all around the fireplace. I have removed the tiles as I want to tile the whole chimney breast not just the surround. The thing is the actual surround is protruding out about 5inch from the wall..... And the front of the fire is flush with that. Can I knock the cement out creating this 5 inch box on the front of the chimeny... Push the fire box back further into the wall so it's flush with the Wall and just tile around the whole thing? See picture for ref. Any advice would be appricated View attachment 259659

It would be a better option to build it the wall with steel studs and cement board.