Hi, I asked about this in an older post but rather than reopen an old post I thought it would be best to start a new post with some new information.
I have moved into an old Victorian house, which has two chimney breasts / fireplaces in the current bedrooms. I want to remove them to open up some more space in the bedrooms for wardrobes etc.
From what I gather, originally the chimney breasts / fireplaces raised up and curved to form one chimney stack which then shot up through the roof. The curved / arched section is visible from the hallway separating the two rooms on the ceiling. The breasts are also against a load bearing wall - not sure how it is tied to the wall. The other side of the load bearing wall is another room with no breast.
Around 40 odd years ago a loft conversion was carried out, so the chimney stack was completely removed from the roof, and was further taken down from inside the loft down to floor level (or ceiling level at ground floor). Then floorboards were just layed on top of existing joists and bridle to make the new rooms floor.
So all that remains is a breast in each room, with the arched section joining the two.
I'm looking to remove the chimney breasts but keep the load bearing wall obviously. I'd imagine I'd just be removing 3 sides unless the chimney is somehow not tied to the load bearing wall?
Does anyone have any knowledge if what is remaining is likely to be load bearing?
Very annoyingly I have already had a structural engineer take a look, and he couldn't tell me if it was or wasn't! And they aren't exactly cheap!
I have attached photos of the joists and bridle of what's left if that helps. Also a rough sketch of the floorplan. For reference the timber with the hammer lying on it is the bridle and the main joists run the other way. I can try to add more photos if nessessary but this was the best I could get without gutting out the room.
Hope someone can shed some light on this!
Thanks
I have moved into an old Victorian house, which has two chimney breasts / fireplaces in the current bedrooms. I want to remove them to open up some more space in the bedrooms for wardrobes etc.
From what I gather, originally the chimney breasts / fireplaces raised up and curved to form one chimney stack which then shot up through the roof. The curved / arched section is visible from the hallway separating the two rooms on the ceiling. The breasts are also against a load bearing wall - not sure how it is tied to the wall. The other side of the load bearing wall is another room with no breast.
Around 40 odd years ago a loft conversion was carried out, so the chimney stack was completely removed from the roof, and was further taken down from inside the loft down to floor level (or ceiling level at ground floor). Then floorboards were just layed on top of existing joists and bridle to make the new rooms floor.
So all that remains is a breast in each room, with the arched section joining the two.
I'm looking to remove the chimney breasts but keep the load bearing wall obviously. I'd imagine I'd just be removing 3 sides unless the chimney is somehow not tied to the load bearing wall?
Does anyone have any knowledge if what is remaining is likely to be load bearing?
Very annoyingly I have already had a structural engineer take a look, and he couldn't tell me if it was or wasn't! And they aren't exactly cheap!
I have attached photos of the joists and bridle of what's left if that helps. Also a rough sketch of the floorplan. For reference the timber with the hammer lying on it is the bridle and the main joists run the other way. I can try to add more photos if nessessary but this was the best I could get without gutting out the room.
Hope someone can shed some light on this!
Thanks
