Chimney ventilation help

[CuriousCactus]

Hi all,

I recently purchased a 3 bed semi-detached 1930s house and I have removed the chimney breasts on both sides of the house (along the party wall) upto the loft where it is supported by gallows brackets (to structural eng spec and signed off by building controls).

I hired a roofer to cap the chimney at the top. Only afterwards did I realise that he removed the chimney pots and sealed it off by using slates over the flue openings and then using mortar over this to seal it off with no air ventilation.

The chimney stack in the loft section is sitting on a steel plate so that it is also sealed off with no air ventilation.

Since there is no air ventilation in the remaining chimney stack, should I be concerned??

Also I'm not too sure about the quality of the workmanship of the chimney cap. I've not seen other examples to compare it to but it just doesn't sit right with me. The 2 chimney pots seen in the pic is the neighbours chimney

 

[blup]

There are different schools of thought. But if you decide to ventilate the chimney, ventilate the flues as well. Otherwise keep an eye on the brickwork, it might stay bone dry

 

[CuriousCactus]

I'm going to just monitor it like you said and ventilate it if I see any negative signs