Neighbor wants to remove part of shared chimney stack?

Eastender

Been informed by my neighbour that he wants to chip away half of our shared chimney stack, for a big loft conversion. We live in a 1930s build terraced houses in London.

He invited me to his home where his builder was present and tried to persuade me to remove the whole stack. I replied that's not a good idea, then he said they can remove their half without seeking my approval but would have a party wall agreement in place.

Both houses have no chimney breast, as they were removed several years ago and the stack is supported by Gallows bracket and we both have combi boilers.

Now my question is,

Do they need my permission to remove half of the stack? The builder seems to give the idea, they don't?

He told me he would shorten the remaining stack to make it stable and patch it up.

I've looked at few properties on my street who have done loft conversion but they left the stack alone.

So why didn't most of my neighbours remove their shared stack when they made their loft conversion? Which brings to the main point, what is the disadvantage of removing the stack?

Finally, I could forsee some damages to my partition wall or maybe the roof, as they builder does not seem that professional, how can I get a guarantee that the remaining stack is left stable and secure? and even with a party wall agreement, how can I make sure that any damages to my property are rectified?

I'm a bit stressed and anxious about this.

Grenage

The benefits of removing a stack are that you make space in the loft, and you don't have the stack sticking through the roof; it's a common ingress point of moisture.

Many will argue that the stack adds character; I don't think its worth keeping unless you have a working chimney.

In your position, I would probably have it removed. The fact that your neighbour has consulted you and has mentioned a party wall agreement is quite reassuring.

J_B

Can't see any benefit in keeping the stack, especially if they are going to do it for you.
You will obviously need some guarantee - would they need 'building regs' and if so, would that be sufficient??

Hoploz

Yes if it is unused just have it removed. That will be a much cleaner job than trying to keep half of it, it would be a recipe for disaster!

How about he offers you a sweetener - £££££!

Eastender

Hoploz wrote: »

Yes if it is unused just have it removed. That will be a much cleaner job than trying to keep half of it, it would be a recipe for disaster!

How about he offers you a sweetener - £££££!

When you say it's 'receipe for disaster' what do you mean?.

So guys do you think, it's better if he removes the whole stack?

However, I'm still confused as to why other neighbors who had loft conversions left their stack alone?

Grenage

They probably wanted to save the work of removing it.

If you told your neighbour that you were happy for the stack to be removed completely, and he was going to pay for all of it to be made good, I'd consider that a decent outcome.

dermonte

Yeah I agree. Probaby they left it to save of paying to be removed. I dont know why you want to keep it :rotfl: We got rid of our fire breast to expand our kitchen but left the stack upstairs because it was adding more to cost. If somebody would do it free for me, I would buy them a box of chocolate or something lol. We were told we have to block ours now because it will damage our rjs with moisture coming in through it. Although ours is not shared.

Eastender

Ok, you guys gave me some confidence and allayed my fears, some people I spoke to told me it's a bad idea as they would not touch the stack.

I would go back and say that they can remove the whole stack, as half stack would look bad and make sure the party wall agreement is solid.

The builder showed me 2 design. 1 with no stack removed and the other the whole stack or partially removed, his client's new loft stairs would be larger if removed.

Wassa123

Apparently some people like having chimney stacks...


Our new build semi has a fake joint chimney stack. No idea why!

giraffe69

When we had work done we had our stack (not shared) removed. No trouble when it was done and none thereafter until about 8 years later when we moved.

Gloomendoom

Wassa123 wrote: »

Our new build semi has a fake joint chimney stack. No idea why!

The new build next to me has a fake one made of plastic. Apparently, the planners insisted on it.