Removal of internal walls around chimney

Deedoodee

Hello, saw a house today and would love some advice. The kitchen is tiny (maybe than 2x2.5m) and next to the dining room which is larger (approx 3.5x 3m) There is a chimney in the dining room, Which extends to the bedroom above (not sure about the loft).

If the chimney is there, does that mean the whole wall between kitchen and dining room will be a load bearing wall? How ‘easy’ would it be to remove walls either side of the chimney breast and take the chimney out and put in shelves or something (keeping the stack)? What’s the expected cost on something like this? I’m in the north west. Haven’t got any photos 

Section62

Deedoodee said:

If the chimney is there, does that mean the whole wall between kitchen and dining room will be a load bearing wall? How ‘easy’ would it be to remove walls either side of the chimney breast and take the chimney out and put in shelves or something (keeping the stack)? What’s the expected cost on something like this? I’m in the north west. Haven’t got any photos 

The chimney is built into the wall dividing the kitchen from the dining room?

Whether or not a wall has a structural function (they don't just bear loads from above) depends on how the house was designed.  Often chimneys are used as a structural element giving support to a main structural wall.

To find out what you can and can't do you'll need to get a structural engineer to make an assessment, but it is likely they won't be able to do the job completely before you'd purchased the property as an assessment often requires the kind of investigation that the current owners won't give permission for.

Structural modifications can be expensive and disruptive - you'll need to think carefully if this is the right property for you if you need to make major changes to the structure, and also whether there may be simpler changes - such as an extension - that could give you a larger kitchen.

stuart45

It really needs some one on site to tell you. Without photos or plans it's only a guess, but if the wall continues up then it could be load bearing.

Deedoodee

Section62 said:

Deedoodee said:

If the chimney is there, does that mean the whole wall between kitchen and dining room will be a load bearing wall? How ‘easy’ would it be to remove walls either side of the chimney breast and take the chimney out and put in shelves or something (keeping the stack)? What’s the expected cost on something like this? I’m in the north west. Haven’t got any photos 

The chimney is built into the wall dividing the kitchen from the dining room?

Whether or not a wall has a structural function (they don't just bear loads from above) depends on how the house was designed.  Often chimneys are used as a structural element giving support to a main structural wall.

To find out what you can and can't do you'll need to get a structural engineer to make an assessment, but it is likely they won't be able to do the job completely before you'd purchased the property as an assessment often requires the kind of investigation that the current owners won't give permission for.

Structural modifications can be expensive and disruptive - you'll need to think carefully if this is the right property for you if you need to make major changes to the structure, and also whether there may be simpler changes - such as an extension - that could give you a larger kitchen.

Thanks. There’s not a lot of room to extend. Extending sideways would block off the side entrance to the back property and also from the other houses in the street/ look of the layout, there’s possibly a shared drive/ shared access between the houses. Extending back into the garden might be an option but none of the other houses have done it (they either extended sideways or removed the wall between kitchen and hallway making a longer narrow kitchen). Would extending be cheaper than removing one of the walls? 

The disruption I can handle as I live with my parents currently and would be able to stay while work was being done. An unexpected high cost I’m more concerned about

casper_gutman

If you keep the chimney stack and remove the chimney breast underneath you'll need suitably engineered beams to be inserted to support the masonry stack above. It might be just as easy to remove the whole thing and repair the gap in the roof!

If you're able to see the floorboards in any of the rooms next to the wall with the chimney, which way do the boards run?

Deedoodee

 casper_gutman said:

If you keep the chimney stack and remove the chimney breast underneath you'll need suitably engineered beams to be inserted to support the masonry stack above. It might be just as easy to remove the whole thing and repair the gap in the roof!

If you're able to see the floorboards in any of the rooms next to the wall with the chimney, which way do the boards run?

Thanks. It’s carpeted all over so couldn’t see it. I was thinking of keeping the entire stack and breasts on all floors and removing the walls either side of it, making the current kitchen the dining area, and the current dining area the new kitchen but not sure how expensive that would be. 

There’s a tiny lean to off the dining room. Other option would be to move the kitchen into the dining room to be a kitchen diner and use the current kitchen as a utility with the plan of removing the lean to and adding a large conservatory or extension later. 

twopenny

Both are nice ideas, like the sound of either.

Kitchen diner with utility is probably the most functional and a good selling point if you move on.

Probably easier to orgainise.

You need to have a look at the water, where the pipes go, where the drains are to gauge whether moving the kitchen area is more expensive than it seems. You could do a bit of that from the viewing.

Perhaps someone knows if there's a ground plan pubilically viewable?