Load bearing chimney & wall removed - support unknown

MSB93

Hi,

I’m new to this forum but there seems to lots of good advice on here regarding home buying so thought I’d post myself.

I am a first time buyer who has recently secured a property and had a homebuyers survey completed on it and of course issues have been flagged up to us. The main area of concern for us at this time is a ‘potential load bearing wall’ being removed between the dining room and living room and the lower portion of the chimney breast being removed on an adjacent wall. There are no obvious signs of support for these works and have been advised that if there is support it may be consealed within the fabric of the building. No signs of distress have been noted.

I suspect these works were carried out on the 70s or 80s though I can’t be sure on that. I think a structural engineer may be required to assess the loads and if sufficient support has been provided. I assume they would need to hack away at the floor/ceiling to see what lies beneath unless there are any other methods that can use to inspect the area? Borescope?

The chimney breast goes up vertically through the second bedroom then joins the main chimney stack in the roof at a 45 degree angle, you can see it in the loft. There is therefore not as much weight bearing down due to there only being 1 floors with of vertical chimney breast in situ. What sort of support should I expect to find in this instance?

I think adequate measures would have been taken at the time of the works being done or else distress would be noted? I don’t expect any supports to conform to today’s standards but I also don’t want this to come back to bite me when I come to sell it on down the line...

Any advice/comments are welcome!
Thanks

ciderboy2009

Works carried out 30-40 years ago and "no signs of distress have been noted" = surveyor just covering their backside!

I wouldn't worry about it myself - if there was a problem with the work then it would more than likely have show itself by now.

AdrianC

It was done a third of a century ago, and there's no sign of an issue...

Do you think the vendor is going to be happy for your structural surveyor to start ripping chunks of plaster off?

Albala

You could try contacting the surveyor for a chat, some don't mind being asked for more information, and they may be able to reassure you or at least explain any risks involved.



I once had to ring a surveyor to chase up a survey that seemed to be taking a while, and the first thing he said was 'I'm glad you rang me, there are a few things I'd like to tell you I couldn't put in the report'. I suspect he may even have been holding it up so he could say, 'well, X rang me and asked'. And I was more than grateful for that extra information he couldn't write down. (Clue- we did not buy the house).