Chimney Breast Wider in Loft Area

CBRFitz

Hi Guy's,


Just looking for a bit of advise on this. My house 106 years old and is up for sale. It has 2 chimney breasts running up from top to bottom. The breasts in the loft are slightly wider in the loft area than the rooms below, 1 bricks width on one and half a bricks width on the other. This has been like that for 40+ years. Does anyone know of any regulations around how much of an overhang might acceptable if any?


Cheers

Le_Kirk

Sounds like it might be corbelling which is done to allow the internal to be bigger at the corbelling point than below it. Quite why it would need to be done at that point I am not sure unless the chimney builder wanted to reduce the effect of the draught at that point. If the house is 106 years old and it has been like that for 40 years, what has happened to cause you to worry? Were the chimneys added later, to cause them to be younger than the house?

phil24_7

If its up for sale any problems wont be your problems! This said I highly suspect that it has been like this for a lot longer than 40 years and thus unlikely to ever cause any problems.

CBRFitz

Hi Guy's,


Sorry I should have put in the original description that my house has been subject to a full structural survey and this has come back as an urgent point to be investigated/rectified. The surveyor who submitted the report suggested that it had been slimmed down at some point, but that seems like an excessive amount of work to gain approx. 9" on a room below. and approx. 5" on the other. I am struggling to get a builder to come out just for a look and I'm a bit reluctant to spend £400+ for a structural engineer to come out so just wondered if there were any standard regs around this sort of thing.

dominoman

Tell your buyers it has been like that for 40 years and there is nothing you can do, so if they are not happy then they should pull out of the purchase.

DRP

yeah, what dominoman said.

CBRFitz

Hi Dominoman and DRP,


Unfortunately it's not the buyers that are the problem, it's the mortgage companies demanding certain works to be carried out as part of the mortgage deal. If this comes up in every survey then I need a solution or at least some information on building regs that would help so I can justify why I'm not going to spend thousands on having lintels installed. Telling them there is nothing I can do won't cut it when there is quite obviously something I can do if I'm willing spend the money.


I'm simply asking if anyone knows of any building regs or any other information that would help in this situation.


Any constructive comments are appreciated.


Thanks

System

you need a structural engineer to assess the stability of the chimney with the current loading - there isn't a cheap way around it and there are no standard regs that would cover a situation like this without the involvement of an engineer.

phil24_7

Building Control would likely say it is fine, due to the fact that it has been for a great many years. A structural Engineer will likely require works as they will be backing up any drawings or calculations with their insurance. They can only estimate the strength of the current set-up but by putting in steels etc they can guarantee the strength.

You'll probably be looking at a couple hundred quid for the drawings then several hundred pounds for any steels that need fitting.

Regards
Phil

EssexExile

I've bought houses where the mortgage company insists certain work is done. I wouldn't expect the seller to do the work, I'd expect to buy the house then do it myself. If the buyer wants a specialist to look at it first then they should pay for him.
I've sold a house with a chimney but the breast had been removed from the bedroom below. The buyers survey mentioned this, they asked about it, I told them it had been like that when I bought it 10 years earlier. They bought the house. Incidentally the surveyor I used saw no problem, I suspect other surveyors looking at your house would see no problem.

dominoman

CBRFitz wrote: »

Unfortunately it's not the buyers that are the problem, it's the mortgage companies demanding certain works to be carried out as part of the mortgage deal.

Are you sure your buyers aren't just telling you that?

A mortgage survey is usually pretty cursory.

The structural survey goes to the buyers and they wouldn't normally share it with the mortgage company.

I'd still say this is the buyers problem, not yours. Tell them you've got another interested party so they need to decide by end of the week or you will pull out of the sale.