Building advice needed -removed chimney breast
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Archie_tect
De Skieven Architek... aka Penfold + Horace
- Location
- Northumberland
Either, get your Council's area Buil;ding Inspector to have a look and advise what if anything needs doing... or get an engineer to go up there tomorrow and see if it's loose.... but prepared to get out of the way if it comes crashing down- though on the bright side it'll be on his insurance.
Archie_tect
De Skieven Architek... aka Penfold + Horace
- Location
- Northumberland
Paul, as a rule of thumb the chimney shouldn't project [corbel out] from the face of the wall by more than one third of the wall's total thickness.
It should be supported with something called a Gallows Bracket if the wall is up to it, or a supporting steel beam. Can get quite complex in some circumstances, it can be structural engineer territory.
What exactly did the survey say? Work done 40 years ago will not comply with todays building regs, but the regs are not retrospective. If it was done 40 years ago a problem would most likely have shown itself by now. Is there any sign of distortion to the stack or any cracking in the vicinity?
What exactly did the survey say? Work done 40 years ago will not comply with todays building regs, but the regs are not retrospective. If it was done 40 years ago a problem would most likely have shown itself by now. Is there any sign of distortion to the stack or any cracking in the vicinity?
subaqua
What’s the point
- Location
- Leytonstone
surveyors wriggle writing. if you can get some pics post them up and we can advise better.
gallows bracket with a 3mm steel plate under the remaining section will work adequately on nearly all 2 storey houses with breast removed into the loft.
gallows bracket with a 3mm steel plate under the remaining section will work adequately on nearly all 2 storey houses with breast removed into the loft.
OK. Ring your surveyor and ask what the support is and why he thinks it's substandard. Was it a building survey or a Home Buyers report? If the latter the condition rating the surveyor gave it would give you an indication of how urgent or serious he thought it was.
I've seen 'em supported by a couple of broken blocks off a ceiling joist before!
I've seen 'em supported by a couple of broken blocks off a ceiling joist before!
slowmotion
Quite dreadful
- Location
- lost somewhere
I've seen quite deep chimney stacks supported off triangular steel brackets bolted into the party wall within lofts of Victorian terraces. It's not a big deal. BTW, one thing to watch for if the chimney breast has been removed is that the remaining party wall at the position of the chimney is often only 100mm thick. This can lead to sound transmission problems with the adjacent property, even though the wall surface is "made good".
It looks like the chimney stack in the photo just rests on the ceiling joists. WTF, it works! Major bum-covering by the surveyor, as usual.
It looks like the chimney stack in the photo just rests on the ceiling joists. WTF, it works! Major bum-covering by the surveyor, as usual.
Its difficult to tell from the picture because I'm on a small screen, but from what I can see it doesn't look like there's any real support. If he gave it a condition rating 3 then he obviously feels that it is serious which in fairness if there is no proper support is a valid conclusion.
With regard to the heating getting a rating of 3 it's standard practice that anything with a health and safety implication gets a 3. Heating and gas installations that haven't been tested in the last year fall in to this category.
With regard to the heating getting a rating of 3 it's standard practice that anything with a health and safety implication gets a 3. Heating and gas installations that haven't been tested in the last year fall in to this category.
gallows brackets may very well not be up to the job. They depend upon the wall that they're tied in to.
Archie's right (as ever), although Building Control officers vary in quality (we still call them District Surveyors down here). Get proper advice (and, once again, get advice from somebody who owes you a duty) and make sure the person who does the work has insurance. In the mean time - check the wall for verticality with a spirit level and take a look at the roof to see if you can see any sign of deflection in the chimney and disruption to flashings or flaunchings.
I've seen a chimneystack split over a period of time because the gallows bracket was fixed to a nine inch wall that deflected over time. It was in the house that we wanted to buy before we went for the one immediately behind it.
Berties
Fast and careful!
We Built a Aga stand and frame supporting a light weight chimney,and the structural work in the pad is a lot of work,
Why?the weight of what you have left is a lot and last thing you want is that coming down,
I took down a non party wall chimney of late and took the whole lot down re tiled re joist etc,if your not going to ever rebuild remove the rest!but do take some expert advice from some one who knows,who can see it in the flesh!
Why?the weight of what you have left is a lot and last thing you want is that coming down,
I took down a non party wall chimney of late and took the whole lot down re tiled re joist etc,if your not going to ever rebuild remove the rest!but do take some expert advice from some one who knows,who can see it in the flesh!
I know I'm a complete Cassandra, but, looking at that bit of chipboard and re-reading the first post, the fact that 'the old boy was a builder' fills me with gloom.
My previous comments stand. All I'd add is that it if a structural engineer determines that the remedy is brackets and not posts, the cost will be in the hundreds, and that you may be able to take his report to the lender and come to an arrangement. The residual chimney shafts should be ventilated in some way.
My previous comments stand. All I'd add is that it if a structural engineer determines that the remedy is brackets and not posts, the cost will be in the hundreds, and that you may be able to take his report to the lender and come to an arrangement. The residual chimney shafts should be ventilated in some way.
That chipboard
The fact that it has been like that for 40 years probably means that in the real world it will be fine. But, if you do nothing about it, the fact that your surveyor has picked it up means that when you come to sell the next purchaser's surveyor will also pick it up and they will be coming to you looking for a price drop to fix the dangerous chimney breast that is just supported by a piece of chipboard over their child's bedroom. It then becomes your problem, whereas at the moment you still have the chance to make it the current vendors problem.
The fact that it has been like that for 40 years probably means that in the real world it will be fine. But, if you do nothing about it, the fact that your surveyor has picked it up means that when you come to sell the next purchaser's surveyor will also pick it up and they will be coming to you looking for a price drop to fix the dangerous chimney breast that is just supported by a piece of chipboard over their child's bedroom. It then becomes your problem, whereas at the moment you still have the chance to make it the current vendors problem.
