chimney falling in? Help please!

[Nawen]

Hello, new here!

We purchased a 1920's semi detached house a few months ago and it has 3 fire places, 2 downstairs and one in the front bedroom, the two downstairs ones are clear, we use the one in the living room directly below the one in the main bedroom.

I was just looking at the one in the bedroom and noticed dust had been coming in from behind a weird brick... after wiggling the brick around it came loose so I took it out, I think it was just covering the back of the fireplace.

It revealed a lot of debris which I think has been there for many years. I started taking bits out and ended up with a bucket full of rubble and dust, now I've uncovered a load of loose bricks and lumps of white mortar like rubble. Only problem is when I remove bits, even more falls down from above.

Can anyone tell me if I'm in the danger zone here? is this OK to remove? only the eventual plan is to be rid of the fireplace, brick up, plaster and fitted wardrobe on that wall.

on a side note we do have damp coming down from the top of the chimney into the room which is apparently the crown and poitning that has gone on the stack, We've been quoted over £2000 to re-crown and point it which seems a lot and as it's not too bad at the moment (having a fire burning downstairs seeems to drive out the moisture.) we're not in a rush to have it done (money is really tight).

Pictures are of the brick (V shaped with 5 indented lines) The bucket of stuff I removed so far and the opening it has left.


Any advice would be greatly received

 

[Leofric]

If you keep taking bricks out there is a danger the stack will collapse Removing a chimney breast ( if that is what you propose ) is a structural alteration which requires building regulations approval and a structural engineer's involvement.

 

[Nawen]

If you keep taking bricks out there is a danger the stack will collapse Removing a chimney breast ( if that is what you propose ) is a structural alteration which requires building regulations approval and a structural engineer's involvement.

Thanks for the response, I'm not removing bricks as such the only 'brick' i've moved is the backing of the fireplace (the black one thats almost square)

The other brick is sat loose on a pile of rubble behind the fireplace, so removing it from the pile of rubbish shouldnt hurt? I'm just not sure if this pile of rubble, slate and brick is normal to find behind an old fireplace or if it's the inside of my chimney falling in, I had all of them swept and the sweep didnt point anything major out, just that the second downstairs has a metal plate blocking it.

I'm not about to start removing any courses of bricks, my intention is the opposite, Once the cast iron fireplace is out it'll be bricked and plastered (hopefully)

 

[Nawen]

Here's a bigger picture of the fireplace, just in case it was unclear what i'm dealing with...

 

[bobasd]

your not in any danger zone.
how many pots or terminals are on the stack flaunching?
is the stack shared with your neighbour?



you need to get all your flues swept and smoke tested - even if a fireplaces has been blocked p,, the flue still needs cleaning.
all redundant flues need through venting from vents at the bottom and top of the flues.
the rubble in the bedroom fireplace could be loose, sand and cement parging from the flue - a camera down the flue would indicate the condition of the flue & the parging.
if its a simple job then removing the grate, and the fire surround, would allow more efficient cleaning.

go in the loft and see if moisture is appearing round the chimney breast?
its common nowadays for roofers to provide before and after work video's of the stack its flashings and its flaunching and terminals.

 

[Nawen]

your not in any danger zone.
how many pots or terminals are on the stack flaunching?
is the stack shared with your neighbour?



you need to get all your flues swept and smoke tested - even if a fireplaces has been blocked u, the flue still needs cleaning.
all redundant flues need through venting from vents at the bottom and top of the flues.
the rubble in the bedroom fireplace could be loose, sand and cement parging from the flue - a camera down the flue would indicate the condition of the flue & the parging.
if its a simple job then removing the grate, and the fire surround, would allow more efficient cleaning.

go in the loft and see if moisture is appearing round the chimney breast?
its common nowadays for roofers to provide before and after work video's of the stack its flashings and its flaunching and terminals.

I'm new to the terminology so bear with me!

There are 3 pots (the bits on the top of the chimney that vent smoke?) outside, 2 have been capped, one is live.
The stack is not shared.

All have been smoke tested and only one failed, the failed one is in the dining room and will eventually be removed entirely (fireplace included). As this fireplace rises it has an archwat between the living room (where the stack is) and the dining rom fireplace where the chimney travels horizontally to the stack and joins it. I'm hoping this can be taken out and the corner of my dining room recovered for a little extra space without this causing any structural issues, I'll get a structural engineer in before any of this is done to make sure it's possible.

As for the sweep, it was done but no inspection with a camera was done, I'm not sure if this is an expensive service or I'd need to pay extra for it but it didn't occur to us to have it inspected like that, we paid £100 for all three fireplaces to be swept, again not sure if this is cheap or not.

I'll go into the attic tomorrow and check the brickwork for damp. it's a hip style roof so getting to it will be a pain

 

[Lower]

If i understand you correctly, you’ve taken the fireback out of the cast iron fireplace and exposed all the rubble the builders put there to fill the void when they originally fitted it.

you’re in no danger of the chimney falling down. I suggest you just put the fireback back in and leave it alone.

 

[bobasd]

dont use the fireplace for the failed flue.
i assume that no gas appliance is in use venting up a flue?
post pics of the arrangement of chimney breasts arching and gathering - indicate what you propose to do with annotations.
if things are shortly to be changed then no need for any further flue work for the time being.
on the info so far then no SE needs to be involved.

 

[cwhaley]

I'd agree with @Lower -- it looks like you're simply removing the backfill from behind the fireplace. I remember when we opened up our first fireplace there was a LOT of brick and rubble which had been used. Was very daunting at the time removing solid bricks.

 

[Leofric]

I'm not about to start removing any courses of bricks, my intention is the opposite,

I obviously misunderstood your proposals ( there are a lot of posts on here about people removing chimney stacks and I jumped to the wrong conclusion in your case )

 

[Nawen]

I obviously misunderstood your proposals ( there are a lot of posts on here about people removing chimney stacks and I jumped to the wrong conclusion in your case )

No worries, it's difficult to explain exactly what I meant so my cobbled together post probably wasnt very clear

Thanks for your time and advice all the same!