Chimney breast support

danslenoir

In the middle of purchasing a 100-year old house. At some point in the property's history, a chimney has been removed on the ground and first floors, with the remaining chimney breast in the attic left supported by some wooden beams.

Our survey has identified this is something that needs addressing. Apparently from reading around this would require council approval and if on a party wall, an agreement with the neighbours.

Can anyone provide a rough estimate of how much this will cost to remedy? Thanks in advance.

mary4kids

We are getting our chimney breast removed at first floor with steel beam support. Also 2 more walls getting knocked down but doesnt need support. Also getting a shower in toilet where wall will be moved a bit to accomodate shower space.. All costing £14000.

chappers

how long is a piece of string, depends on what is acceptable to your local authority, some will allow gallows brackets some wont a simple gallows brackets fix could come in at under £400 a full steel beam support could be anything depending on the available points of support.
Personally I wouldn't bother with a PWA

Doozergirl

I wouldn't bother with PWA either. The main chimney breast has already gone. Shutting the door after the horse has bolted, somewhat.

danslenoir

chappers wrote: »

how long is a piece of string, depends on what is acceptable to your local authority, some will allow gallows brackets some wont a simple gallows brackets fix could come in at under £400 a full steel beam support could be anything depending on the available points of support.
Personally I wouldn't bother with a PWA

Thanks.

The council said that gallows brackets are generally OK. However, they stated they would need to assess prior to any work being carried out to ensure proposed work met their approval. Would they not insist that a PWA be obtained, too?

If so, should we bypass both neighbour and council? What are the potential implications of doing so?

chappers

Don't bypass the building regs, but they won't care about the PWA, they will probably want some calcs from a structural engineer to back up what you are doing.
A structural engineer would be my next port of call, he will work out the best way forward and design any fabrication that needs doing.

mary4kids

chappers wrote: »

Don't bypass the building regs, but they won't care about the PWA, they will probably want some calcs from a structural engineer to back up what you are doing.
A structural engineer would be my next port of call, he will work out the best way forward and design any fabrication that needs doing.

I agree. Structual engineer calculated what needed on ours.

fezster

As said, only a structural engineer and an on-site survey can determine exactly what is needed. If steel beam, you'll need adequate support either side (with sufficient foundations), which may mean some exploratory work beneath the wall, which the council will want to see proof of.

Do you know if the neighbour has had their chimney breasts taken out? If so, another option may be to remove the chimney altogether, but this would need agreement from your neighbour.

chappers

fezster wrote: »

As said, only a structural engineer and an on-site survey can determine exactly what is needed. If steel beam, you'll need adequate support either side (with sufficient foundations), which may mean some exploratory work beneath the wall, which the council will want to see proof of.
Possible but highly unlikely for supporting the relatively small mass of the remaining chimney stack

Do you know if the neighbour has had their chimney breasts taken out? If so, another option may be to remove the chimney altogether, but this would need agreement from your neighbour.

When the neighbour has already removed their breast that is when things can get a bit more complicated if they already have gallows brackets fitted and why some local authorities won't give permission for this sort of support.