Putting a vanity basin into a chimney stack

[DanDIY]

This is a bit of building and a bit of Plumbing.

I am trying to create some room to put a shower cubicle into my bathroom.

I have a victorian terrace. The Bathroom is in the L shaped bit at the back. Coming up through the house I have a large chimney. It has been removed on the ground floor. It is not against the party wall on the first floor. After the first floor it cranks over and joins with the neighbouring stack in the roofspace.

Here is a simple sketch. The offending chimney in my property is red dashed lines.

Ideally I'd take the whole chimney down, but I think this would have to be in conjunction with next door as there is a shared stack- they are elderly and had a whole new roof about 2 years ago, so I don't think this is feasible.

Putting a steel in at the first floor ceiling will also be difficult as there is a window on the outer wall in line with the chimney. There is a brick arch above the window that I think I would need to remove and then replace with a steel, which would support the 2 steels holding the chimney.

The idea I've come up with is to open up the chimney with a lintel, similar to putting in a fireplace, but instead put in a vanity unit. I could make a bit of a feature out of this - cupboards underneath, maybe a brick arch. This would allow me to move my basin and then fit in a shower cubicle.

Has anyone done anything similar? Any problems?

The chimney has 2 flues in it, so I would need to remove the inner divider between the flues and also put a slab or board in to stop the pigeon sh1t falling down. Maybe an air brick in the loft to stop damp?

 

[bobasd]

weve done this lots of times.no problems.
how is the remaing chimney breast supported in the firstfloor ceiling?is there asteel
use a big boy to install a lintel andopen up and sweep the flues,youl also need to have a look at the stack flashing and terminals.the flues have to be vented in the bathroom and at the stack.
remember to clean flues recess ofof soot and how to run waste. hot and cold. and elec

 

[DanDIY]

Hi. thanks for the reply. There are a pair of steels beneath the first floor. I've just remembered I have proper drawings for these

There is a bit of a void where these two steels are boxed in (where the four spot lights are), so this would be an easy way to run in pipes

 

[DIYGab]

Hi Dan,

I'm thinking of doing the same in my bathroom and was wondering how your project went?

Do you have any pictures you can share of the finished product?

Thank you!

 

[DanDIY]

Hi Dan,

I'm thinking of doing the same in my bathroom and was wondering how your project went?

Do you have any pictures you can share of the finished product?

Thank you!

DIY doesn't run that quickly in my house. I was still at the visualisation stage when I made the first post. Now I'm at the psyching myself up stage.

I might start in the spring, once I can drain down the central heating.

I did find that my cousin had done the same thing in his terrace house and it looks really good.