- Joined
- 13 Sep 2011
- Messages
- 68
- Reaction score
- 0
- Country
We purchased a house late last year and the chimney breast in the lounge has been removed. We knew this when buying the house (they gave us 'building regs insurance') and we couldn't get them to discount the price further, so we decided to get it done when we moved in.
We've come to the time of having saved up enough and now we've hit some complications. Hindsight. Wonderful. Etc.
Anyway, the house had four chimney breasts, two up and two down. The one at the front of the house has been removed, and what is holding up the one directly above it is anyone's guess. Pixie dust is the latest. However it has been like this for, it would appear, at least 15 years, may be a lot longer, so it's obviously been quite happy (and may, in all fairness, have been done correctly, although we doubt it).
We want to get rid of the chimney breast in that bedroom so as to give us back some space, and thought that it would be the better option to do so as at least the money spent gives us something back as well.
However...the dividing wall between the living room and dining room has been removed. There is a lintel there, but again no building regs (surveyor did NOT pick this up). We can't see what the lintel is, as it's plastered in and decorated over, but the structural engineer we had round to check the chimney breast requirements mentioned that there may not quite be enough space between the lintel and the living room door height (the lintel goes from one solid wall into a wall where there is a door directly below it, about 5-6 inches below the base of the plasterboard case of the lintel).
Due to the dividing wall having been removed and no record of the lintel used (again, this would appear to have been done years ago), he's informed us that we couldn't steel beam the chimney breast in the loft as that would put stress on that wall upstairs in the bedroom, that may or may not be sufficiently supported downstairs. He has instead said that we need Gallows brackets.
I'm sceptical about Gallows brackets, having Googled them, as they don't always appear to be the best solution, that they can cause problems with the next door neighbours flue (and I would imagine that their flues' must run in line with ours, as the chimney breasts are mirrored in their property, which makes me worry about Carbon Monoxide poisoning) and that later on, assuming that whoever then buys the house from the old couple next door wanting to remove their chimney, that then can cause more problems.
Are there no other options to Gallows brackets?
And, equally as concerning, are the Building Regs people going to come round, see that there is a wall missing with no records of it having been removed, and demand that that gets done at the same time (can they do that if it's been done years ago? We have no 'proof' of when it was done, as there is no record at all).
Sorry, long post, but tried to be as detailed as I could.
We've come to the time of having saved up enough and now we've hit some complications. Hindsight. Wonderful. Etc.
Anyway, the house had four chimney breasts, two up and two down. The one at the front of the house has been removed, and what is holding up the one directly above it is anyone's guess. Pixie dust is the latest. However it has been like this for, it would appear, at least 15 years, may be a lot longer, so it's obviously been quite happy (and may, in all fairness, have been done correctly, although we doubt it).
We want to get rid of the chimney breast in that bedroom so as to give us back some space, and thought that it would be the better option to do so as at least the money spent gives us something back as well.
However...the dividing wall between the living room and dining room has been removed. There is a lintel there, but again no building regs (surveyor did NOT pick this up). We can't see what the lintel is, as it's plastered in and decorated over, but the structural engineer we had round to check the chimney breast requirements mentioned that there may not quite be enough space between the lintel and the living room door height (the lintel goes from one solid wall into a wall where there is a door directly below it, about 5-6 inches below the base of the plasterboard case of the lintel).
Due to the dividing wall having been removed and no record of the lintel used (again, this would appear to have been done years ago), he's informed us that we couldn't steel beam the chimney breast in the loft as that would put stress on that wall upstairs in the bedroom, that may or may not be sufficiently supported downstairs. He has instead said that we need Gallows brackets.
I'm sceptical about Gallows brackets, having Googled them, as they don't always appear to be the best solution, that they can cause problems with the next door neighbours flue (and I would imagine that their flues' must run in line with ours, as the chimney breasts are mirrored in their property, which makes me worry about Carbon Monoxide poisoning) and that later on, assuming that whoever then buys the house from the old couple next door wanting to remove their chimney, that then can cause more problems.
Are there no other options to Gallows brackets?
And, equally as concerning, are the Building Regs people going to come round, see that there is a wall missing with no records of it having been removed, and demand that that gets done at the same time (can they do that if it's been done years ago? We have no 'proof' of when it was done, as there is no record at all).
Sorry, long post, but tried to be as detailed as I could.
)
