Hi all,
I need a bit of advice. I've just bought my first home, a semi-detached bungalow. It had a working gas fire in the lounge which was a big plus for us and one of the reasons we bought it.
We removed the horrible brick surround and I was going to stick with the gas fire for the time being but the plumber condemned it for being too old and unsafe installation.
We removed it and the opening to the flue seemed to have concrete over it. Whilst trying to unblock it, we put a small hole into next door which is only a single leaf wall we now know.
I've had a chat with the neighbour, he had the chimney breasts removed when he had all his work done a few years ago, so it looks as though they removed and the flue (a slab of brick has been put in to block the bottom).
I'm going to call the building inspector for the area this afternoon, but I'd like some feedback from anyone who might have some experience in this situation.
Obviously I bought the place expecting a flue, and there was nothing to suggest there wasn't one. It doesn't appear that next door have building regs approval for anything chimney related but would this be part of permissible development?
Obviously the old gas fire was extremely dangerous and we are lucky we discovered it.
The neighbour is a really nice guy so I don't want to cause any agro if I can avoid it. I think ideally, I'd like to modify our chimney breast to insert a new metal flue straight up (if that's possible), and have him pay for it. Would I have any say in what the building inspector demands from the neighbour if it came to that? Any general advice dealing with building inspector people? It's not exactly a nice introduction to home owning I must say
.
I need a bit of advice. I've just bought my first home, a semi-detached bungalow. It had a working gas fire in the lounge which was a big plus for us and one of the reasons we bought it.
We removed the horrible brick surround and I was going to stick with the gas fire for the time being but the plumber condemned it for being too old and unsafe installation.
We removed it and the opening to the flue seemed to have concrete over it. Whilst trying to unblock it, we put a small hole into next door which is only a single leaf wall we now know.
I've had a chat with the neighbour, he had the chimney breasts removed when he had all his work done a few years ago, so it looks as though they removed and the flue (a slab of brick has been put in to block the bottom).
I'm going to call the building inspector for the area this afternoon, but I'd like some feedback from anyone who might have some experience in this situation.
Obviously I bought the place expecting a flue, and there was nothing to suggest there wasn't one. It doesn't appear that next door have building regs approval for anything chimney related but would this be part of permissible development?
Obviously the old gas fire was extremely dangerous and we are lucky we discovered it.
The neighbour is a really nice guy so I don't want to cause any agro if I can avoid it. I think ideally, I'd like to modify our chimney breast to insert a new metal flue straight up (if that's possible), and have him pay for it. Would I have any say in what the building inspector demands from the neighbour if it came to that? Any general advice dealing with building inspector people? It's not exactly a nice introduction to home owning I must say
.
