Removing a chimney breast

[alfiesdad]

We want to remove a chimney breast from the 1st floor bedroom. However the loft has been converted to a bedroom and if possible I want to leave the breast in place on the second floor. Is there any way to support the breast between the floor levels so you cannot see the support from the 1st floor?
Thanks for any help

 

[ree]

There probably is a way to achieve what you want but it might be expensive and no matter how its approached it would involve disturbance and mess.

A number of pics and more info would be needed.

What will you do with the extra space in the first floor room?

 

[GuinnessSI]

You will need a structural engineer to review the structure and calculate the loads.

Its unlikely you will have floor joists or roof trusses spanning onto your chimney breast, if you do however this is likely a show stopper. This would yield imposed as well as dead loads and would greatly increase the steel requirement below what could be hidden reasonably at first floor ceiling level.

If you don’t have floor joists then its a possibility you could build a gallows bracket arrangement into the chimney breast in the loft. Although this would cause disturbance to the loft it would be below the roof and easier to hide. You may also get lucky and get a non gallows bracket system to work in the depth of the loft joists which I imagine will have been replaced or an over structure introduced (this may be deep enough as often the old ceiling joists are left and new joists introduced above, often steel PFC's).

Back to my first point though, get a structural engineer out. It sounds expensive and it really isn’t. Their time should run to circa £60 an hour. This will give you a though out structural approach with the smallest section sizes possible.

 

[tony1851]

This is alost impossible to answer on a forum, because there are so many ways the loft floor may have been done.

Realistically, OP needs to take some boarding up in the loft in the area of the remaining chimney breast (or alternatively, some of the ceiling below) and then get an SE out to have a look and make recomendations.

Unfortunately, a little destructive work would be required to get a proper scheme designed.