Widening Chimney Breast

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8 Jun 2010
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Hi

I have read many threads on this forum about widening the opening to a chimney breast and understand that in most cases it is relatively easy assuming you have a lintel installed correctly.

In my case however my chimney breast is fairly narrow - only about 2ft across internally. I have been advised by a builder that I could extend the chimney by building a new wall from breeze blocks to one side of it then install a litel running the width of both the existing chimney and new wall then remove the existing chimney supporting wall.

Has anyone else performed work such as this or advise? I have uploaded a drawing to try and explain
 
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New wall for the breast would require new foundations and you would need to either step the breast in above or continue up through building..

Is this at ground floor level?

To be honest unless you are happy to use £50 notes as fuel for the new fire this is probably a none starter
 
If you are doing this to put in a fire you would also need to rethink the flue arrangement as depending on how far you want to widen it you will end up with the flue tight to one side.
 
Many thanks for replies.

I am not 100% about the flue arrangements - it would be off centre but not drastically closer to one side.

I believe the exisint concrete floor was considered strong enough to support the load. Do you think this would not be the case?

My biggest worry initially was with regards to the lintel supporting the corner of the chimney breast but it looks as if there were other issues I could have overlooked.
 
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The lintel would be the minor issue.. i doubt the floor could support the chimney as most chimneys also support upper floors as well as the roof..

You should build an extension to the existing chimney foundations tying the new into the old and build off that..
 
Butcher,
Clarify one thing first. Working old money
You say your breast is fairly narrow, then you say it is only 2ft across internally. Do you mean that the fireplace opening width is 2 ft. This would have been standard to take a 18 inch wide back brick or at a pinch 24 inch back brick with the edge of the quoin knocked of the opening to accommodate it. You should have either a one brick or one and half brick pier each side to make your breast overall either 42 inch or 51 inch, plus say 1 inch for plaster.
Next question, what do you want to put into this bigger opening? Do you still wish to use a class 1 appliance. One other thing stick your head up opening and see whether flue travels to the left or to the right inside the breast.
What you want can be done, but as our friend 896neo has said you may have some major problems with the flue as the part of existing breast that you wish to remove supports all the guts of the flue inside the breast no matter whether the flue gathers to the right or to the left.
Let me know and will tell you what you can do or can’t do.
old un.
 

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