Removing chimney breast from 1st floor

[Glastoun]

I had a small stump of chimney bricks left in the loft, which I have removed, so now the top layer of bricks is level with the boarded loft floor. I'm using a large SDS drill and would struggle to continue removing bricks holding the drill inside the flues. Looks like there are around two layers of bricks between the loft floor and the 1st floor ceiling, once these are gone I'll be fine working from the 1st floor.

How best to approach this - carry on trying to remove them from the loft, or move to the 1st floor and loosen them from ceiling level, even if I have to go back up to the loft to remove them completely?

The first bricks I took off were solid and came off easily in one piece. But the further down I go the more crumbly and black they are - makes it a messier job, and I can't always tell what is brick and what is mortar which makes targeting the mortar joins more difficult. Although sometimes the mortar is actually stronger than the bricks.

 

[ree]

Do you have a chimney breast in the room below the loft?

Do you have a chimney breast in the room below that?

Do you have a chimney stack on the roof - even one that is shared with a neighbour?

 

[Glastoun]

Do you have a chimney breast in the room below the loft?

Do you have a chimney breast in the room below that?

Do you have a chimney stack on the roof - even one that is shared with a neighbour?

We have a chimney breast in the room below the loft - that is the 1st floor room referred to above. That is the next part to remove.

There is a chimney breast on the ground floor below that - we will remove the chimney breast, and the removal of the rest of the wall from the ground floor is part of a building warrant application with the council, and will be removed and supported professionally.

This chimney is in the middle of our house so not connected to a neighbour's property, and it had already been taken below the roofline when the roof was replaced, before we bought the house.

 

[ree]

So, you intend to remove the whole remaining chimney breast, and a ground floor wall?

Usually much dust and soot is in the air - take precautions. Block off all lower fire openings and vents. Try not todrop bricks down the flues.

Swing your hammer at the remaining loft bricks, hit them, they will move. Any brick tied into the wall split with a bolster - "chop" it off where it meets the wall.

Continue the demo on the first floor - first cut the outline of the c/breast, esp where it meets the ceiling, with a utility knife. This will prevent pulling lumps of plaster or plaster board out - break the seal.

Take the c/breast down to floor level. Any lower demolition would have to be done in conjunction with the builder lintelling below.

Perhaps, come back after the demo is complete and be advised on cleaning up & sealing the soot footprint.

 

[Glastoun]

Yep all makes sense. What size of hammer are we talking, toffee or sledge?

 

[Glastoun]

Okay, 1st floor is removed - remaining wall looks a little sooty, and is still not quite flat but a few passes with the SDS chisel should sort that. Based on the images below, how would I treat this? Any kind of sealing needed before plaster goes on it? And how should I fill any indentations/holes in the bricks to get everything flat? I'm assuming (mainly from a financial point of view) that none of the bricks need removing or repointing?

View media item 80523
View media item 80524
Also, there is a concrete hearth under the carpet area that I didn't realise was there. You can see it on the image below, in the middle of the chimney breast, boxed in with wood and with a thickish metal sheet underneath it. How to handle this? My first option was to ignore it and continue removing the front of the chimney breast to ground level, but how will this concrete hearth be supported? Wouldn't want it falling through the ceiling....

View media item 80525

 

[ree]

Well done.

There is still the matter of removing a wall and the remaining c/breast from below. Pics of whats to be demolished will help - outline any proposed wall opening and lintel.

The bricked up fire opening to the right might do with opening up and cleaning out?

All sooty surfaces should be thoroughly wire brushed down, any suspect bricks must be removed. Make it as clean as possible.
Paint on a primer of SBR and water, then a slurry of SBR, water and sand and cement. Work quick , it dries quick.

The recess is then brought out to brick face by bricklaying or brick slices - depending on the recess depth? Dont come out proud, stay shy.

The front hearth can be prepared for taking up by removing some flooring materials, and exposing it for pics. Do this first.
Or, exposed for dropping by removing some of the ceiling - sometimes both methods have to be used together.
Dont go wildly smashing it with a large hammer - be cautious.

 

[Glastoun]

Thanks. Had a structural engineer friend look at it, and we have to bridge between two joists that are sitting on some of the current bricks before removing the ground floor chimney breast, which should then be a similar job to the first floor. Those joists are only holding up the ends of the floorboards so no big load as such. The supporting wall is going to be done by a builder with engineer's drawings so I'll not be touching that part myself.

Not sure what you mean by the bricked up fire opening to the right? The sooty line on the right leads down to the ground floor fireplace.

I think we'll clean up the wall but let a plasterer prep and finish it, not sure that my plastering would be good enough for this size of wall.

What makes a brick suspect? None of them show any signs of movement or looseness.

From further investigation, the front concrete hearth is boxed in with the metal sheet underneath it - it breaks up fairly easily, so will remove it from the top.

Thanks for the advice,

 

[ree]

Mistake - i meant the left hand side where the bedroom fire opening has been bricked up. Its your call but from the pic the brickwork looks to have been penetrated by soot?

Any sooty brick thats not in the actual flues would be suspect. And sometimes its worthwhile to remove bricks from the feather, or the whole feather.

Prime and slurry the whole of the exposed brickwork from loft to ground floor.

Put a straight edge horizontally across the c/breast outline and check for flatness - any unevenness to be knocked off. Clean off any wall or ceiling paper to allow the skim to blend in.

Prep the ceiling opening with scabbed on nailers to take the new plasterboard. Screw up the p/b (just a little shy) and match screw the in-situ p/b.

Best practice is to use a S&C render and board finish.

 

[Glastoun]

Okay, we're getting there, just need a few translations:

Prime and slurry - what do I do this with? In the UK slurry has farmyard connotations.

I've put a straight line against the remaining plastered walls, and after tidying up the remaining brickwork there is a depth of around 20mm between the front of the plaster to the front of the bare brick, occasionally coming out to 10mm where half bricks have been cut. Is this okay for a plasterer to undercoat over before doing a top skim? An undercoat and plaster combination is what came off the front of the chimney breast, there was no plasterboard involved.

What are scabbed on nailers and S&C render?