Firebrick necessary?

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RyanK

New Member
Jan 10, 2016
5
California
Newbie here....I am working on installing a wood insert. I failed my measuring and due to the firebox tapering in, I can't get the insert pushed back all the way. Is there any reason I can't remove the firebrick? If the firebrick is necessary, is there a panel on the market that can be cut to fit and put in to save me space? Thx!
 
Newbie here....I am working on installing a wood insert. I failed my measuring and due to the firebox tapering in, I can't get the insert pushed back all the way. Is there any reason I can't remove the firebrick? If the firebrick is necessary, is there a panel on the market that can be cut to fit and put in to save me space? Thx!
You need 8" of masonry between that insert and any combustible material If you have that with out that fire brick you can if you don't then no you cant
 
How close is it? How much is sticking out?
 
How close is it? How much is sticking out?
Install manual says to set insert 14" into firebox. I can only get it pushed back about 11". Not enough to get the liner attached. I pulled a firebrick out on one side to take some measurements. Entire fireplace is 52" wide (outside) and continues into the basement where it also measures 52". When I measure the inside of the firebox to the firebox opening and compare it to the overall width it seems that there is about 10" of space between the firebox (without firebrick) and the outside of the whole fireplace. Sorry if that's confusing.....
 
I'm not picturing your setup here. When you say firebrick are we actually talking firebrick or just a clay brick fireplace? I've never seen a fireplace built with firebrick. Is this going into a prefab fireplace? What insert are you installing? Any pics?

Edit: Another question....Is this an exterior chimney? Might make a difference if the brick you cut is beyond the wall or interior to the house
 
Sorry for the confusion, hard to explain. Here are some pics. I have already removed the firebrick on the side I am measuring. From the reads on the tape measure I have 12" wide minus the 3" return inside the firebox. 9" thick on the side, correct?
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I've never seen a fireplace built with firebrick
what do you mean almost all the masonry fireplaces i see are fire brick.

Sorry for the confusion, hard to explain. Here are some pics. I have already removed the firebrick on the side I am measuring. From the reads on the tape measure I have 12" wide minus the 3" return inside the firebox. 9" thick on the side, correct?
You cannot go by the face brick that does not tell you much about the thickness of the brick around that firebox. You need to do some more investigation. We have simply drilled into the sides at times wit ha long masonry bit to check the thickness.
 
what do you mean almost all the masonry fireplaces i see are fire brick.
I'm sure you have seen a lot more than I have but thus far every open fire place I have dealt with or seen has been clay brick. Basically used the same brick for the entire construction. This is the 1st I have ever seen that actually used fire brick over the clay brick. Maybe this was the first I ever seen built correctly IDK. So I was just trying to get an idea what the OP was dealing with.

It does appear that the face minus interior seems to be 10" of masonry. But I agree with bholler, easy enough to drill and make sure. All these little things you do to make sure its correct add up to a solid piece of mind that it is installed correctly.
 
Well fire brick are required by code for the last 30 or so years so yes they should be. Are you sure you are not just seeing red firebrick? I cant beleive that many are built out of common brick anymore.

As far as the measurement the face of the fireplace really tells you absolutely nothing about what the structure behind there is. They almost always extend past the structure
 
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