Builder Required...

[Gareth Burrows]

I need someone to come and look at my kitchen, rub their chin, whistle through their teeth and go hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm..

We have a small kitchen, made smaller by the intrusion of a brick chinmey stack that obviously housed the original oil boiler many years ago. This has been knocked out upstairs and the bath is directly above it. We use it as a cupboard as it opens into the living room, but I want someone who knows what they are doing to come and tell me if its a supporting structure, cos if it isn't mr kango hammer and I are gonna have a smashing time making the kitchen a bit bigger.

Obviously, I don't want to proceed if our two floor house then instantly becomes a 1 floor house and the bath ends up in the kitchen.

Anyone in the Haywards Heath Heath area do this for a living, or can point me in the direction of someone reliable who can give it a good coat of looking at.

cheers

G

[Mal Bridgeman]

Where's your sense of adventure Garf?

I would have recommended a North London based builder but apparently the last time he gave that sort of advice, this was the result



Mal

[laterontoday]

Chimney stacks generally are load bearing in that they carry their own weight and that of the stack above the roof.

Do not remove a chimney breast on a lower floor if there is still a chimney breast above or worse a chimney stack above that.

What you need is a Building Suveyor or a Structural Engineer not a builder. Removing a chimney stack must be done properly othewise you could have lots of bricks in your kitchen one morning. Its possible to take out a chimnet breast on ground floor and still leave the rest above but the supporting structure nees to be properly designed. I've seen chimneys left held up with a couple of bits of 4 x 2 that one day will give way to the sound of 'timber' and the crash of falling bricks.

[Gareth Burrows]

Originally Posted by laterontoday

Chimney stacks generally are load bearing in that they carry their own weight and that of the stack above the roof.

Do not remove a chimney breast on a lower floor if there is still a chimney breast above or worse a chimney stack above that.

What you need is a Building Suveyor or a Structural Engineer not a builder. Removing a chimney stack must be done properly othewise you could have lots of bricks in your kitchen one morning. Its possible to take out a chimnet breast on ground floor and still leave the rest above but the supporting structure nees to be properly designed. I've seen chimneys left held up with a couple of bits of 4 x 2 that one day will give way to the sound of 'timber' and the crash of falling bricks.

all good advice, but as I said, the stack has been removed on the upper floor.

[Mark Chase]

Originally Posted by Garf

all good advice, but as I said, the stack has been removed on the upper floor.

Then the one on the ground floor is doing bugger all and all you have to do is resuport the joists that were terminating on the chimney breast. These have to suport the bath so the easy way is to use these things called Bower beams.

See below you need a section of timber to span the gap and the BM9 to splice it on the end of the existing joist. Then you want a Joist hanger to suport the end of the beem on. The hanger can be cut inot the brick work


This is not a chimney repair but it gives you an idea.



ATB

Mark Chase

[IanD]

Garf

I took the chimney breast out in my bedroom, still left the bit downstairs and in the loft. Took me about a day to knock it out and load it into a skip. I got the building inspector from the council round. He was very helpful gave me lots of advice and even drawings for the supporting brackets.Cost about £60. He will, once the job is completed to standard, issue a Certificate of Completion. Having this can save any hassle if you go to sell your house.

[Mark Chase]

The removal of a stack leaving a section remaining in the roof void definitely needs building control. If the stack is already out above, this certificate (letter actually) should already exist to say the gallows brackets conform with building regs.

There is no need for such a cert in this case but to be sure check with your local building control officer.

There are situations where the stack forms a spine and or central support for the property but if this were the case they wouldn't have been able to take out the stack above.

Sorry if this is stating the obvious, but the removal of chimneys is incredibly dangerous. I have an old work colleague who was a professional builder and he was off work over months after a stack collapsed on top of him. it was spot dabbed on rather than nogged so leaving a corbel in place didn't work. 18 tones of brick fell on him. They said it was a miracle when he survived. Proper needle and acro support should be used and if you don't know what you are doing don't touch it.

ATB

Mark Chase


ATB

Mark Chase

[Woz]

Originally Posted by Mark Chase

...it was spot dabbed on rather than nogged so leaving a corbel in place didn't work... needle and acro support...

I can see your lips moving but have no idea what you are saying. Are you Armenian?

[Mark Chase]

Originally Posted by Woz

I can see your lips moving but have no idea what you are saying. Are you Armenian?

Spot dabbed means they put a dab of cement on the end of the brick and glued it to the wall. Nogged bricks actually enter the wall to a depth of 100mm. On a nogged wall leaving a 45 degree angle of brick work at the bottom can support a considerable amount of weight above using what is known as the corbeling effect where the load is transfered down and out at an angle.


Needles are another name for scafold poles or H section steel gurders you put through holes in the wall horizontaly. Then you suport the ends of the poles with adjustable steel poles verticly. The adjustable poles are called Acro's

ATB

Mark Chase

[Foggy]

Having seen how to do it properly, why not give Bob the Builder a call (aka diving dude). I hear he is a right chav builder!

LOL, Paul