Removing a chimney in terraced house...

stek2008

Hi folks,

Possibly a really silly question....

We're in the midst of buying a mid-terraced house. 
The chimneys have all been removed below roof level but the chimney breasts are still present internally. 

If we wanted to remove the chimney to reclaim some floor space is this an absolute nightmare to do? Obviously, we'd need a builder (and likely an engineer) to do the work, but wondering if it's possibly shared with the next-door neighbour is going to make it implausible.

Steve

Section62

stek2008 said:

If we wanted to remove the chimney to reclaim some floor space is this an absolute nightmare to do? Obviously, we'd need a builder (and likely an engineer) to do the work, but wondering if it's possibly shared with the next-door neighbour is going to make it implausible.

The chimney breast on older terraced properties often acts as a structural element giving the party wall lateral support.  Removal may be possible, but you'd need a SE to assess the amount of lateral support the party wall needs, and how that could be re-provided if the chimney breast is removed.

One thing to bear in mind is that sometimes where the chimneys are back-to-back it is possible to remove them on one side without doing anything else.  It is only if/when the second chimney is removed that the problems (and need for mitigation) arise.  If the neighbouring property has already got rid of their chimneys the odds of you needing to put in additional support are greater.  If you get in first, the neighbour may have a bigger bill when they do theirs.