How to deal with cracked plaster around a wood burning stove.

If your wood-burning stove has been recently fitted inside the shell of an old fireplace (a great spot for it) then you may be unlucky enough to experience cracks appearing in the plaster close to the stove. The plaster may then come away from the wall leaving unsightly holes through which structural brickwork is visible.

The two main reasons why this might happen are outlined below.

Firstly take a look at the brickwork. This may entail pulling more plaster away from the wall, but if it is coming away anyway...

You are looking to see if anything more than hairline cracking extends into the brickwork itself. If it does then this is a structural issue. The absolute best advice there is is to stop what you are doing, go straight to the phone and call a structural engineer out to give you a professional opinion. Do this as a matter of urgency and do not relight the fire until a competent professsional gives you the all clear. To do so could endanger your property.

That is the worst case scenario. It is far more likely that you will find the plaster alone is cracked.

This usually occurs when the bonding between the previous surface and the new plaster fails. This should not occur and since you are most likely still under warranty so call the company who replastered the fireplace and ask them to come back and fix the work.

The best option will be for them to line the walls closest to the woodstove with heatproof boarding. This is a modern safe form of asbestos that should permanently resolve the problem.

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