Chimney stack - help needed

[MrVander]

Hi,

I've recently purchased a house and need some help.

Due to the poor plaster in the house (1930's semi house) I'm taking it all off and I've come across a problem tonight.

The dining room chimney has been removed at some stage (and it used to go through the bathroom).

After removing the cupboard around a hot water tank tonight:

I've found this problem, there is a gap in the brickwork on my side of the party wall (party wall is two bricks deep with no cavity):

Picture showing severity of the problem:

Now the chimney stack is completly removed from the dining room, but in the bathroom only the left wall is (where the gap in the brickwork is), the right side of the chimney is used instead of a stud wall. And its not supported correctly underneath it:

Also my chimney stack in the attic isn't supported

I really need some help in terms of direction of what I should do. Can a bricky do all the work for me. Do I need to contact the council or a structural engineer. There was no planning permission for this that I can find as it was removed a long time ago supposidly.

I'm not touhing the wall until its sorted. Really gutted to find this stupid problem.

Thanks,

Matt

 

[JohnD]

I should say it needs a steel gallows bracket at each end and a steel joist or angle to support the front. An experienced brickie will know how to do it. Try to get local recommendations.

that bit of wood looks quite new.

 

[MrVander]

Hi John, the wood is the last photo is just for the cold water storage (it rests on it). The wood has no contact with the chimney at all.

I've been looking at steel supports for the remaining chimney in the loft, but at the moment I'm more concerned with the missing bricks in the wall and the wall that sticking out with no real support

Need to get it all sorted asap and just want to make sure I'm doing the right thing.

 

[JohnD]

I can't really follow the pics, but a competent brickie will have done hundreds of those. Watch that he chops bricks to fit rather than just smudging mortar into the hole.

 

[MrVander]

Here's a diagram of the problem to explain a bit better

 

[JohnD]

hole in wall wants bricking up

chimney needs gallows plus rsj (or I might prefer it taken down and roof made good over the hole, it will cut future maintenance needs)

stub wall probably wants knocking down, though it will quite likely not fall down.

 

[^woody^]

For the hole in the wall, its not an issue, so just put some bricks back in.

For the wall, it is only 1 1/2 bricks so if it's otherwise tied in, then it will not be going anywhere

 

[MrVander]

Thanks people.

I builder has been around to have a look, and I've also got a building control officer popping around tomorrow to have a look as well.