Chimney breast 'part' removal?

[Smk80]

Hi all,

I am trying to find out if it's possible to remove say 75% of a ground floor chimney breast (dining room) to avoid having to have a large RSJ installed. I was chatting to a guy who said a relative of his had something like this done where he said there was some sort of staggered part of the chimney breast left for support and then all that was needed was some gallows brackets and a lintel to add the required extra support.

I've tried searching on the net but can't find anything helpful to fully understand if this method is possible.

Can anyone offer some advice or point me in the right direction? Thanks!

 

[opps]

Not my area of expertise, but I believe that removing bricks is possible if you remove them as a triangle.

Hopefully someone will be along soon to explain in more detail.

 

[ree]

OP,
1. What are you aiming to do with the chimney breast opening?
Whats your purpose?
2. Why not post a pic of the chimney breast as it is now?

 

[stuart45]

I'd guess he was talking about corbelling the chimney breast. Back in the 70's and 80's it was quite a common way to do the job. However, nowadays it's more usual to support them with steels.

 

[Ivor Windybottom]

Brackets, corbelling or whatever, I really don't like the idea of having many tons of bricks hanging above fresh air, you're asking a lot of the wall that ends up having a massive sideways force applied to it. Plus it all costs money, you'd pay more to remove the whole lot from the top downwards but get much better value. You then never need to worry about or pay money to fix leaks, birds nests or flashings, plus you gain more space in the room(s) above too.