Internal flue advice

[Nathan1986]

Hi all, hope this is in the right section. Used this forum loads for advice and now need to ask something specific.
Currently in the process of decorating bedroom and wanted to remove a roughly 2 foot wide cavity wall between 2 bedrooms to install wardrobes.
The chimney for the house runs through this cavity, it is no longer used, no gas etc and is all boarded up in the living room below.
I didnt realise or even consider this until I knocked a hole in this cupboard to see through and have found this in the attached pictures.
Looks like some kind of cement board/potentially asbestos as the house is 1950's, used as heat shielding?

I know about the risks associated with asbestos, the advice im after is how easy it would still be to remove the cavity wall for wardrobes right across and any issues that this may prove.

Obviously there will be floorboards needed at the bottom and I need to access the loft to see what's up there.

Thanks in advance

 

[KenGMac]

The board [the grey one] is possibly one of the cement bound Asbestos boards, only a text will prove one way or another, because there are also [relatively] modern similarly coloured boards that are fire resistant but do not contain Asbestos.

The "brown coloured" board ?? is it a soft material? it has the appearance in the posted image to be a material called Cellotex, or soft board? is Flammable !! and was used at times as a low grads Insulation, but not in your case, probably used as a cheap board to cover a large area fast??

Your loft investigations are a must. you need to see what is directly above this area.

Seems like a lot of "wasted space" ?? a 2 foot wide cavity?

Ken.

 

[Nathan1986]

Thanks for the reply.

Yup definitely wasted space. I've attached a pic of the living room/dining room underneath. Bottom part is block/brick then stud work starts about 3 ft up, why they have continued such a wide cavity upstairs is beyond me.

If I end up removing it the grey (cement) board will be treated as asbestos until proven otherwise and diposed of as such.
Yup the 'brown' boarding is some kind of old fibre/hardboard they have used to line out the cupboard and appears to have been wallpapered at some point
Loft inspection is tomorrow's job when I can get somewhere for some stepladders.

Dependant on that Im thinking just take down the full stud wall in the bedroom and see what's behind, hopefully take out the cement board without too much trouble and hopefully nothing too horrific behind that to deal with. Board the floor and ceiling where the holes will be.
Just didn't wanna start it if someone had any kind of experience with this and knew something that might be problematic

 

[^woody^]

For flue heat shielding, I would be more inclined to suspect the more hazardous AIB board - especially if it has a very smooth surface.

If you can see an edge and it's more than 6mm, then its more likely AIB

 

[KenGMac]

So long as you do not find a Skeleton ?? during your "excavations?" should give a load more space.

Ken.