Carl Finnell · Stove chambers
A stove set in a chamber with a beam above is the most popular look we fit. Choose your options below, see your chamber take shape, then send it to us for a tailored quote.
Your chamber
Choose your options to build your chamber.
Chambers are bespoke, so the cost is confirmed in one written quote after a free home survey. No obligation.
Brick chambers
A brick chamber can add warmth, character and timeless appeal to your fireplace, creating the perfect backdrop for your new wood burning stove. At Carl Finnell we offer a wide selection of brick colours and finishes, allowing us to create a chamber that complements both your home and your personal style.
Where possible, we carefully match the brickwork to the original bricks used in your property's construction, for a seamless, authentic look. We also consider your interior decor, wall finishes and furnishings, so the fireplace feels beautifully integrated with the rest of your living space.
Whether you are looking for a traditional rustic appearance or a more contemporary finish, we will help you choose the ideal brick chamber to enhance the focal point of your room.
The anatomy
A chamber is the built environment the stove lives in, and every part of it is doing a job. The opening itself is formed or enlarged and given a proper lintel. The chamber walls are lined in your chosen finish, brick, porcelain, stone or paintable Glasroc, all on heat-safe backers with the right adhesives, because everything this close to a stove has to live with real temperatures year after year. Above the opening sits the beam, solid oak where the clearances allow it, or the non-combustible Inglebeam where the design wants the beam nearer the heat.
Below it all is the hearth, cut in granite, slate, stone or porcelain, sized to Building Regulations and shaped to the room, and behind the scenes a register plate closes the flue off so the chamber stays clean and the draw stays strong. We design all of it together on the home survey, so the proportions, the materials and the stove itself arrive as one considered picture rather than parts that happen to share a wall.
Choosing a finish
Brick is the classic for a reason: 27 colours in the builder above, from soft creams to deep clarets, laid straight or herringbone, and at its best in period homes where we can match the house's original brickwork. Porcelain brings large-format, precision panels with almost no joints, the cleanest contemporary look and the easiest to keep. Natural stone sits between the two, textured and solid, especially good where a stone chamber belongs in a farmhouse, cottage or older chimney breast. Glasroc Firecase is the quiet option: a fireproof board finish you simply paint, so the chamber recedes and the stove does the talking.
There is no single right answer, which is why we bring samples to the survey and look at them against your walls, your floor and your light. The builder above is the starting point; the finished design is agreed in your home.
HETAS registered
We self-certify eligible installations and notify Building Control on your behalf, so the work is signed off properly and your certificate of compliance is issued for your records.
Common questions
Yes. We can form a completely new chamber, either by opening up a bricked-up chimney breast or by building a false chimney breast against a flat wall with a twin-wall flue behind it. The finished room looks like the fireplace was always there.
Brick suits period homes and anywhere you want warmth and texture, and we can often match your original brickwork. Porcelain and stone give a cleaner, more contemporary panel look that is easy to keep. Glasroc is the paintable option when you want the chamber to disappear into the wall colour. We bring samples to the survey so you can compare them in your own light.
A solid oak beam needs a safe clearance from the stove, which we work out from the stove manufacturer instructions on the survey. Where the design puts the beam closer than timber allows, we fit a non-combustible Inglebeam, cast to look like real oak but fireproof, so the look is the same and the clearances still work.
Most chambers are built and finished as part of a two to three day stove installation, depending on how much opening out and making good is involved. Forming a new opening or building a false chimney breast takes longer than dressing an existing one, and you will know the timescale before work starts.
Yes. The chamber sits right behind and around the stove, so everything in it must handle sustained heat: the brick slips, the boards behind porcelain or stone, the adhesives and the hearth itself. Using ordinary plasterboard or the wrong adhesive is one of the most common faults we are asked to put right on chambers built by others.
Book your free home survey
Send a few details and we will call to arrange a visit, bring samples and give you a proper quote. No pressure and no obligation.
HETAS-registered installs. We cover Lichfield, Birmingham, Sutton Coldfield, Tamworth, Cannock, Walsall, Aldridge, Solihull, Wolverhampton, Burton upon Trent, Stafford and Derby.
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