Am I able to remove a section of wall in upstairs bedroom?

[nutcheck]

I’d like to know if it would be safe to remove the small section of shelving in the bedroom, directly above the kitchen and on the same chimney breast where a wood burner is installed, to increase the space in this room and remove the shelving stack.

159cm = bedroom shelving edge
209cm = chimney breast solid wall

This small section of wall feels / sounds very solid, so must be brick. However, this might just be the chosen building material of the property when it was built, which is 1920-30's.

110cm = kitchen chimney edge
159cm = right-edge of wood burner.

The chimney must pivot towards the left in the kitchen (as looking at the photo) due to the 209cm measurement made in the bedroom, which is to the left of the wood burner. the right-hand side of the wood burner is roughly measured at 159cm.

As a result, would this piece of wall be structural to the chimney breast? And therefore is it safe to remove or not?

 

[Koolpc]

What is directly above it?

 

[nutcheck]

in both rooms, the chimney wall goes up to the ceiling as shown in the pics. above the bedroom goes into an unused attic. this is a typical ex-council semi-detached property, built circa 1920-30's, and this chimney is on the adjoining wall.

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

Is this an external wall? What koolpc is getting at is are there any ceiling joists bearing onto it, which way do the ceiling joists run? Perhaps take some pics of the top of the wall in the loft for us and take a pic or two from further away so we can see things in context.

 

[nutcheck]

Thanks freddie

Uploading a new image from the attic. I hope you can pick up the outline of the chimney stack against the shared wall (exterior to my property, but obviously shared with my neighbour).

The ceiling joists run perpendicular to the wall.

 

[nutcheck]

bumping this, probably dropped down the pecking order.

 

[securespark]

To be honest, I'm a bit confused which bits you want to remove.

You obviously can't remove a wall that separates your property from next door's.

 

[nutcheck]

I want to remove the small shelving area in the bedroom. Looking at the photo, it is the thin, brick width wall of the right-hand side of the shelves.

It is all inside my property. But it solid, and validating it has nothing to do with the functioning chimney, as downstairs below it is the wood burner.

I have been trying to show that this thin wall does not seem to be part of the actual chimney. But given the solid building material, I am checking before doing anything.

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

Sorry you're going to have to delve a bit deeper into your loft, you need to lift up the insulation where those joists are and see if any of them are bearing on the bit of wall you want to remove and if one does does it go all the way into the party wall, the wall set back from the chimney?

 

[securespark]

It's tricky to see in the photos.

Is it the bit of wall that is directly behind the books?

If yes, does that bit of wall go back as far as wall to the right (in the corner)?

Thirdly, as fmt says, you need to go up to the loft, pull back the insulation around the area above that part of the bedroom and check to see if the joists are resting on the wall you want to remove.

Fingers crossed, the joists will span the full width of the room and be set into the party wall.

 

[nutcheck]

Yep, got it thanks. I'll get up there shortly. Now, where are those ladders...?

 

[StephenStephen]

Is it just the shelving you want to take out?
If so, what are they made of?