Building Regs - Chimney Breast Removal

J_B

Doozergirl wrote: »

Gallows brackets are not accepted by many local authorities now.

OK - tin hat on and off to go ...

If you have complete faith in your builder then keep your head down and away to go. A lot less hassle and costs.

I know not what a gallows bracket is, but the fact that they are 'not now' accepted maybe means that they once were. The folks who used then X years ago, their houses didn't fall down!
The same with an extractor in the loo - you didn't used to have them, but now you do.
They just change the rules, but the 'reliability' of older properties is surprisingly better (without these 'rules') than the newer houses which are 'controlled' way more - who was the recent developer who's houses were showing major structural faults recently?

Doozergirl

J_B wrote: »

OK - tin hat on and off to go ...

If you have complete faith in your builder then keep your head down and away to go. A lot less hassle and costs.

I know not what a gallows bracket is, but the fact that they are 'not now' accepted maybe means that they once were. The folks who used then X years ago, their houses didn't fall down!
The same with an extractor in the loo - you didn't used to have them, but now you do.
They just change the rules, but the 'reliability' of older properties is surprisingly better (without these 'rules') than the newer houses which are 'controlled' way more - who was the recent developer who's houses were showing major structural faults recently?

I suggest that you need more than a tin foil hat if you want to continue this conversation seriously!

How do you defend the removal of two internal walls in conjunction with two chimney breasts and potentially part of the back wall of the house to put in french doors? Putting each of these misdemenours individually aside, what do you think that combination could potentially do the structural integrity of a house as whole?

Look at a wine carrier box. It needs the internal walls to stop the box from twisting in on itself.

You don't have any way of knowing the reliability of old vs. new houses either. It's a sweeping statement. Building bad houses isn't a recent thing. Besides that, you can very easily take something perfectly solid and turn it into rubble!

I would have no faith in a builder that ignored building regulations. . That degree of work without approval could render the OP's house unsaleable.l to a lot of people. Every surveyor will notice the missing walls.

FreeBear

Doozergirl wrote: »

I would have no faith in a builder that ignored building regulations. . That degree of work without approval could render the OP's house unsaleable to a lot of people. Every surveyor will notice the missing walls.

Not sure about unsaleable. Certainly unmortgageable with any mainstream lender (amounts to the same thing). If the OP's lender (assuming there is one) would probably be very nervous if they were to find out about the current state of work.

dipsy

does anyone know what happens if you didn't know about a PWA
your neighbour has removed all chimney breasts in their house without your knowledge or a PWA

There is no issue at the moment other than they have a damp issue and therefore need to get on our roof (3 bed semi)

Should they have had a structural survey done and what are my rights - thinking of when we go to sell the house and if there are any issues in the future

Thanks

Ectophile

dipsy wrote: »

does anyone know what happens if you didn't know about a PWA
your neighbour has removed all chimney breasts in their house without your knowledge or a PWA

It's one of those silly things where if you can finish doing the work before the neighbours say anything, then you got away with it.

The idea is that the neighbours can employ a surveyor, at your expense, to make sure your work isn't going to damage the party wall.