removal of MY side of chimney stack and breasts

Oblivion

maninthestreet wrote: »

Leave your breasts where they are.

I agree, or else the entire property could go t1ts up! :rolleyes:

Have you ever noticed how in many photos of burnt-out buildings, the only thing left standing is the chimney stack? In many house designs it is the strongest link, and you mess with it at your peril.

And besides, how the heck is Santa going to get any presents to you next Christmas? A chimney stack is not just for the rest of the year.

Dave.

ixwood

Charming.

Why would anyone go out of there way to help you now? Manners cost nothing.

sujman

I recall seeing on one of those house renovation programs, the house holder decided to have his chimney stack taken down.

His builder, who was already on site doing other work initially quoted around £1,500. But after some begging and pleas of poverty, he agreed to "mates rates" of £750.

At a guess, even I would reckon anywhere from £500 to £1,000.

Eagle_1

simonjones24 wrote: »

great another loser!

lol, send abuse a link to this thread and mebbe report yourself :rotfl: :rotfl:

paddy's_mum

I suspect your biggest risk may be in making an everlasting enemy of your next door neighbour who has already indicated that he doesn't agree with what you propose to do. In his shoes, neither would I, since what you want to do may well have grave implications for the stability of both properties.

He may also be sitting on his side of the wall feeling sick with anxiety that you may just bring in your builder and plumber relatives and make a start regardless.

As another poster has already said, chimney stacks are often the strongest part of a building and many houses in this country are 'hung' on the solid lump of it. Before doing so much as chipping out one line of mortar, you would be wise to google Right of Support and then find a properly qualified and insured structural surveyor to advise you on the next step.

You may also want to give a quick call to your Local Authority to find out whether planning permission is required. For such a massively far-reaching proposal, I suspect that it won't just be building regs that you require.

The terms of your mortgage (if you have one) may also require that you seek the consent of your lender before undertaking a project with such potential calamitous consequences.

What I have given you is my opinions based on previous experience. May I just add that if you have treated your neighbour with the same "quick-to-offend-and-report" attitude as you have displayed here, you may never win him over and will have years of fighting and unhappiness to deal with. If he takes a dispute as far as it can possibly go, you may find that you have gained a couple of square metres of extra floor space in your home but be unable to sell due to the dispute.

I would suggest that if you are "in a hurry" for answers, you have not thought this through anywhere near thoroughly enough. My final advice would be slow down, take professional advice, think it all out, and only then act to achieve what you want. Good luck.

Tribulation

One of my neighbours had all his removed (shared the chimney with his neighbours house). The chimney stack was left on the roof and protruded a couple of foot into the attic, then had a largish very heavy duty angle bracket bolted to the wall and the stack.

That was over 15 years ago and no one has had a problem since.

Once the stack is supported, you could if you want take the rest down yourself, that way you'd save a huge fortune, but it would be very messy and time consuming.

You need to have a structural surveyor out to check it's feasible though. It should be doable on most houses although there will probably be a few out there (especially really old houses) where it could affect the stability.

marybishop

Quick answer - Party Wall Act applies (www.RICS.org Useful Guides), not all Councils like gallows brackets, get good professional advice i.e. structural engineer/chartered building surveyor as Building Control will require structural calcs, no idea on how much but best thing is to get at least three quotes so you can compare.

rustyjemma

marybishop wrote: »

Quick answer - Party Wall Act applies (www.RICS.org Useful Guides), not all Councils like gallows brackets, get good professional advice i.e. structural engineer/chartered building surveyor as Building Control will require structural calcs, no idea on how much but best thing is to get at least three quotes so you can compare.

Not sure Id be happy at another mans Gallow bracket hanging off of my in use chimney!
With fuel prices going skyward i think Chimney breasts will beome all the rage anyhow!

Oblivion

rustyjemma wrote: »

With fuel prices going skyward i think Chimney breasts will beome all the rage anyhow!

Oh yes. We have very deliberately kept our fireplace in the lounge. It's fitted with a Parkray glass fronted coal burner that not only provides the visual comfort of a real flame heat in winter, it also provides, via a saddle tank at the back, heating to 4 radiators in other rooms and, via an internal coil, added heat to our immersion tank.

Even with inflated coal prices, it's cheap as chips to run, and there's nothing quite like coming home to a real fire on a bitter winter's day. We love it, as do many of our friends who have decided to convert back to real coal burners.

Dave.

simonjones24

OK, guys lets start this again...

Let me apolgise if i came/come across with a bad attitude.. i have been on many forums with this question and i have not had anhone respond to my question - rather they jus send abuse etc...

thanks to eveyone who has responded (ok, even the ones with the jokes) im not in a hurry to get this done, i have been thinking this through for arund 6 months.

I was suppose to have had the job done in may, the day the builders came to do the job, was the day the neighbours did not wnat it done.. i know i have to check with party wall act, bulding reg and structure eng to have the job done.. however, i thought if i jus take my side of te stack down i did not think party wall act would come into play, can anyne state if im right here?

what i relasied so far is (and witht he help wth everyne above) i need to

get strucural report
bulding reg
builders
scaffodling.
and the job done - whihc will cost around 1-2k.

can anyone had anything to this please that im missing..

also, your right, i will prob lose respect from my neigbours, but once in a while yo got to think whats best for yourself and partner... its a lovely home and wth the extra space it wil be perfect, the reason im trying to find asnwers about taking my side of the stack down only and leaving thiers there, is simply due to thinking of my neghibours, even if it costs me extra...

i know that the chimney is main structure for the house, but i know ts job can be done by a professional, witht he calculations of the structra report of course.

i have to chimney stacks to my house. the one i want to remove is situatated at the back, attached to the upsetairs bathroom, runing down to the dining room.

Paddys mum, thanks for your input, woudl you advise that i get a structure report done, then seek advice form my mortgage lender then locla auth and bulding regs?

thanks guys.