Stove installations cluster in September and October, for the obvious reason that nobody thinks about heating in June. Opening up a fireplace that has been boarded over since the seventies is one of the dirtier jobs a house can go through, and the material that comes out of it is heavy, sooty and mixed. We supply Appley Bridge skip hire for a steady run of these every autumn, and skip hire in Appley Bridge for a stove job needs to be sized for rubble rather than for volume.
What comes out when a fireplace is opened up
Most stove installations in this area begin with a chimney breast that has been sealed, plastered over or fitted with a gas fire and a surround. Taking that back to the original opening produces a genuine quantity of rubble. The brickwork infill comes out, the old hearth is lifted, and the builders opening is usually enlarged, which means more brick and a new lintel going in. On a stone built or older property the material is heavier again.
Then there is what falls down the chimney. Decades of soot, birds nests, loose mortar and fallen brick sit on the register plate or in the throat of the flue, and when the sweep goes through it all comes down into the room. That material is filthy but it is inert, and it goes in the skip once it is bagged. Chimneys that have never been lined often shed a surprising volume.
Add the old fire surround, which may be tile, marble, stone or timber, the hearth slab, the plasterboard and studwork from any boxing in, and the packaging from the new stove and flue liner. The liner itself arrives coiled and comes with a substantial cardboard and strapping load.
Sizing the skip for a stove installation
This is a heavy load in a small volume, which is the opposite of most household jobs. Brick, mortar, tile and stone hearth are dense, and a skip filled to the top with fireplace rubble will be well over its weight limit. For a single fireplace opening a 4 tonne midi skip hire is normally the right choice, filled no more than two thirds by eye, and it is the size we suggest for most of these.
Where two fireplaces are being opened, or the stove work runs alongside a wider renovation with floors up and walls out, an 8 tonne builders skip hire gives the room needed for the timber and board that come with the rest of the work. If you are not sure which way the job will run, our skip sizes comparison sets out what each holds, and it is easier to book up before delivery than to arrange a second collection later.
The rule we would emphasise on a fireplace job is to spread the rubble across the floor of the skip rather than tipping it all in one corner. A concentrated load of brick makes the skip harder to lift safely and pushes the weight over the limit sooner than a level spread does.
The material that needs checking before anything is broken up
Older fireplaces sometimes have asbestos insulating board behind or around them, used as a heat shield when solid fuel gave way to gas. It looks like a soft, chalky board and it is not always obvious. Old flue liners and rope seals from certain periods can also contain asbestos. None of it can go in a skip, and none of it should be broken, drilled or swept.
If anything behind the fire surround looks like board rather than brick or plaster, the job stops until it has been identified. Our guide to asbestos and skip hire and what to do instead explains how that is assessed and who handles the removal. A competent stove installer will raise it themselves, but it is worth knowing before the first bit of the surround comes off.
Access and placement around Appley Bridge
Appley Bridge presents a mix we know well. There are properties on the main routes with generous frontage where a skip drops straight onto a driveway, and there are cottages and converted mill buildings on narrow lanes with a shared access and no turning room at all. On the lanes running up from the canal, the constraint is often overhead as much as underfoot, with low branches and telephone lines on the approach.
Where the property is on a private or unadopted road, we need to know before we set off, because the surface and the width decide whether we can get a full sized lorry in at all. Where a road placement on an adopted highway is needed, Lancashire County Council is the highway authority and a permit is required, at £36 per month. Our guide to whether you need a permit to place a skip on the road in Lancashire covers the conditions that come with it, and we make the application on your behalf.
Booking skip hire in Appley Bridge before the cold weather
The case for doing stove work in September rather than November is practical. Installers and sweeps are less pressed, the chimney is dry, and the disruption of having a fireplace open for a few days is far easier to live with before the heating is needed. Waiting until the first cold snap means joining a queue at the point you most want the stove working.
Everything we take away goes to our own recycling centre, where hardcore, timber, metal and board are separated and the brick and stone are recovered rather than landfilled. We are family run, fully licensed and working from our own site, which is why we can usually fit a next day delivery around a trade booking. We cover the same work across Parbold skip hire and Skelmersdale skip hire.
If your installer has given you a date, ring us on 01695 769123 or contact our team with the address and the scope of the opening up. We will size it, sort the permit if the lane needs one, and have it there for the morning the work starts.
