Chimney Breast and Stack Removal

drandall41

Hi all,

Am I going to be moving into a new property soon and am thinking about having chimney removed. It is a detached property and I believe the chimney breast does not sit on the load bearing wall. My question is, how much structural work is included if the entirety of the breast and stack is removed and would it be better to just simply remove the breast in the downstairs level and make the necessary adjustments there?

grumbler

drandall41 wrote: »

would it be better to just simply remove the breast in the downstairs level and make the necessary adjustments there?

Do you not have the same breast upstairs?

drandall41

Do you not have the same breast upstairs?

We do have the same breast, what I mean is remove the breast downstairs and put an rsj (or whatever is needed) to support the rest of the breast/stack?

MX5huggy

It’s not possible to leave the breast above and support with RSJ. You would see the hangman’s brackets.

FreeBear

Is (was) there a fireplace in the room above ?
If so, there will probably be a slab of concrete that formed the hearth. Any chimney breast removal would have to take this in to account - If you removed the chimney all the way up to the roof, you'd have a hole in the floor/ceiling that would need to be filled in. Removing a hearth just makes the hole bigger.

Just remember - You must get the work signed off by building control. Failure to do so could result in legal action from the council and cause problems when it comes to selling the house. If any builder tells you different, ask them to get back on their horse.

MX5huggy wrote: »

It’s not possible to leave the breast above and support with RSJ. You would see the hangman’s brackets.

Most (all ?) areas don't accept gallows brackets any more. A properly specified and installed RSJ is the way to go.

ka7e

You need a structural engineer's report. We found our chimney breast was too wide to remove without a steel and uprights to support the whole length of the wall. The uprights would have to stand on plinths inside the foundations, which in turn meant moving CH pipework. A seemingly simple idea turned into a potentially a very expensive piece of structural remodelling - and was abandoned!