unsupported breasts!

MaureenHB

Ha! Got your attention. We have heard from friends that surveyors are picking up on houses where chimney breasts have been removed, and are not supported by RSJ's. Our chimney breast was removed before we bought this house.. our original survey (25 years ago) said nothing about it, so we didn't have any work done. Are we going to get clobbered for it now, and does anyone know a rough price? Thanks.

John_M_Business

Hi there

If the whole stack has been removed, then there should be no need for supporting of the breast.

However, if a lower part of the chimney has been removed but the rest remains then may need to be supported. If it is corbled already (i.e. there are 'stepped' bricks underneath the stack transferring the weight into the wall) then as long as the whole chimney 'left' is not more than about 3 metres in height you may be OK.

If there is a stack left over and it is not properly supported (even if you have corbling, but the stack is high then you might 'fall foul')... then an RSJ will have to go in. The cost will be in the region of £750 to £1500 depending on how the steel to fit under the chimney needs to be supported itself. Any quote higher than this is probably unreasonable.

moose

In the process of selling our house and the survey has just come back with exactly the same thing. Can anyone else comment on ballpark figures for this work. I have just rang a reputable local builder who said that he had seen this many times and could do it but was fully booked until next year. I asked him about typical prices etc and he said thatit was probably a job I could do myself. He reckoned about £90 for materials and if we did get a builder to do the work it would be approx £200 labour.

Seems cheap to me.

Any comments

Moose

knight-on-the-town

If the breasts are unsupported, there is an increasing likelyhood of sagging with the passage of time.

Clearly there are precautionary measures you can take. A good quality made to measure support should prevent sagging for a good many years. An RSJ would be advisable if it was a particularly large stack.

Initially, in the early years, there are often no signs of sagging at all and even without support no one would know any difference. But time and gravity takes its toll. May be worth seeking professional advice.

John_M_Business

moose wrote:

In the process of selling our house and the survey has just come back with exactly the same thing. Can anyone else comment on ballpark figures for this work. I have just rang a reputable local builder who said that he had seen this many times and could do it but was fully booked until next year. I asked him about typical prices etc and he said thatit was probably a job I could do myself. He reckoned about £90 for materials and if we did get a builder to do the work it would be approx £200 labour.

Seems cheap to me.

Any comments

Moose

It depends on what the builder is quoting for. I doubt that his price is for steel / steels to support, most probably he's talking about corbling (i.e. stepping of bricks to take the weight). The quote is still cheap, but possible (if it is exterior then you won't have to worry about decorating it either).

We had to put a steel under ours, supported by a wall and a steel column. This would definitely NOT cost £250 - it would be over £500 minimum...