Hole under my fire place

[Lovedafire]

So I recently bought an old farmhouse. We have discovered many things that are not necessarily the way it should be done. The most recent discovery was found while I was laying new floor in the living room. I had to remove some old rotten floor in front of the fireplace and discovered that there is a huge empty cavity under my fireplace brick. I'm just looking for suggestions on how to fill it and support my fireplace. There is no access to this area under the house. I thought a filling the face with dry concrete and do a dry pour . What are your thoughts . Thanks

 

[bigealta]

How about a wider pic to show more of what's going on there.

 

[Lovedafire]

 

[Lovedafire]

There was a peace of metal there but it's so thin it never did anything and rusted away

 

[Lovedafire]

 

[Lovedafire]

View attachment 321025

That's the left side under the brick.. There is block there but the metal is gone.

 

[Lovedafire]

Right side underneath..

 

[bigealta]

Hmmm, i don't know. Just to hard to see what's going on with all that. Lot's of sketchy looking things going on there. Too much to be of much help over the internet. Looks like some in person evaluation is called for. Got to make sure it's properly supported. Sorry

 

[sloeffle]

I agree, the whole thing looks a little sketchy. Personally, I'd try and find a qualified brick mason and see if they might be able to lend their expertise in fixing the problem. IMHO - I don't think this is a DIY fix type of "thing". The front of the fireplace doesn't have any support underneath it and it probably should. It also looks like you have bricks that have shifted over time, that can't be good either.

 

[zrock]

I agree, the whole thing looks a little sketchy. Personally, I'd try and find a qualified brick mason and see if they might be able to lend their expertise in fixing the problem. IMHO - I don't think this is a DIY fix type of "thing". The front of the fireplace doesn't have any support underneath it and it probably should. It also looks like you have bricks that have shifted over time, that can't be good either.

i agree i used to do masonry and that is just sketchy.. At min the brickwork needs to be done with a proper foundation, hard to tell if there is a foundation under that mess.. do not fill with a dry concrete mix pay a professional to fix

 

[Tonty]

I agree that an in-person evaluation is needed. It could be that it’s a concrete cap that is thick enough to span the distance and the metal was their way of forming and holding it while it set. Then the metal wouldn’t be needed once set up. Just hard to tell with the pictures. But there should, at the least, be more holding the front row of brick. Again, I agree that a competent pro should look at it.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

I have seen plywood in this area that was put down when they poured the hearth. It’s supposed to be removed afterwords, but often isn’t. I suspect the builder put some sheet metal down to either aid in releasing the bond with the ply, or even take the place of the ply. It’s held for years so I don’t know if I’d call it a sketchy idea. It may have held for longer if there wasn’t water in the area. Have you addressed the cause of the rot?

Not really knowing what was damaged, or how it is supported or how it was supposed to be supported, it’s hard to figure out how to repair it. Since floors staying where they are supposed to be is important, I’d have someone that does this sort of thing for a living take a look and recommend a repair. It could very well need to be torn out and replaced vs repaired.

 

[armanidog]

I have an old farmhouse that had wood shelves with concrete poured on them for the hearths. I took the one I was going to actually use and tore it completely out. Then I made a rectangle of cinder blocks sitting on a concrete footing. I filled the rectangle up with gravel and covered it with concrete. I used thin bricks set in quickset for the hearth.
I recommend rebuilding the hearth.