Chimney breasts and Gallows brackets

thepedestrian

Does anyone know what the situation is with gallows brackets to date ? - I m finding it confusing as some builders (particularly Hyltons Chimneys who have a really good website and several videos on you tube ) are making a living from installing them

- and try as hard as I can I cant find that anyone has said anything bad about him on the net , but more local builders to me in Norfolk ( and a structional engineer I talked to on the phone ) dismiss them as not being up to the job ?

Both ground floor breasts removed in our 2 up 2 down semi (neighbours still intact ) all the rest of the stack intact - but no signs of proper support for either ( I can live with it - but would probably come back to haunt us when / if we come to sell )

- also would like a wood burner installed in one room ,but no one around here will touch it ,without support ( obviously Gallows would be a lot cheaper than RSJ`S ) - not even the chimney sweep will brush it as it has no fireplace

JimmyTheWig

We used gallows brackets to support a chimney stack where the ground floor breast had been removed.
Got signed off by building regs with no problems.

thepedestrian

thanks for that Jimmy - did you have a structional engineer involved any time ?

JimmyTheWig

I can't quite remember.
We had a local builder come and do the work. He sorted it all out.
I vaguely remember that he had to get a structural engineer to do the calculations as to how big/strong/whatever the gallows bracket had to be.
Building control certainly signed it off, but I doubt it was them who did the calculations.

rob7475

I'd check with your local building control.

Some councils allow gallows brackets, some will make you have a steel installed

phill99

You will need building regulations. So contact your local council. Some councils are happy with gallows brackets. On older houses (often per 1950s), some require steel work as older walls often have weaker mortar and can't support gallows. Dartford Council tend to require steel on all per 1950s houses as a set of gallows brackets failed in a house quite recently. Luckily nobody was hurt.

They often require calculations from an engineer. However, the only people to give you a definitive answer are your building control department, so call them.