How much work would entail the demo/removal of a brick-faced free standing fireplace?

Question

the fireplace is in the middle of our dining room & family room. we have small children and worry about them running into the fireplace and getting hurt and we just want to open up the room. any idea how much work this entails? the fireplace is not brick - it's brick faced - not sure what's under the brick face - obviously some fireproof sheeting i guess. we received a quote from a roofing company and an estimate of the length of time this project will take, but want to get some other opinions. thanks!

Answer 1

My husband did this in our old house.  He used a chisel and sledge hammer.  It took him about a day to get all the bricks off, chisel the mortar off the walls, put up new drywall, and sand it.  (It wasn't a very big fireplace).  Someone else textured the drywall, then we painted on another day.

If your fireplace is freestanding, you won't have to worry about drywall and texturing the back wall; just your ceiling.  Then you'll need to figure out what to do about your floor where the fireplace once stood.  In our project, we had already planned on getting new carpet, so it wasn't a problem.  Good luck w/your project.