sual for the chimney stacks to be removed above roof level, as these are often shared with a neighbouring property and the cost of erecting scaffolding and making good to the roof tiles or slates would be prohibitive in many cases. It is more usual for the chimney breasts to be removed inside the building and for the chimney stack to be left in place. It is important that the remaining chimney stack is adequately supported. This can be achieved in a number of ways. The traditional method was to support the remaining chimney stack in the roof space with steel ‘gallows’ brackets. This is a triangular bracket made up of steel and bolted to the wall beneath the chimney stack. The security of these brackets is largely dependent on the quality of the brickwork underneath the stack; if the brickwork is very soft or loose it may not be possible to obtain a secure fixing for the bolts.
A more secure alternative, and one that many local authorities now insist on, is a steel ‘I’ section beam that sits on the load bearing walls of the house and supports the stack above. It’s worth mentioning at this point that removing a chimney breast is considered a structural alteration and it is necessary to get approval from the Local Authority Building Control Department. If the chimney breast is on a party wall it will also usually be necessary to a serve a Party Wall Notice on your neighbours.
Surveyors will always check whether or not chimney breasts have been removed when carrying out Homebuyer Reports and Building Surveys. If the chimney breasts have been removed on all floors it is usually possible for the surveyor to see from within the roof space how the chimney stack has been supported, or not, as the case may be! Over the years we have seen quite a few different methods of support, ranging from text book gallows brackets and steel beams at one end of the range to odd pieces of timber and even no support at all at the other extreme. We even know of a surveyor who, after struggling to lift an extremely heavy loft hatch, found that the unsupported chimney stack had partially collapsed on to it!
Another area of potential concern is where chimney breasts have been partially removed. For example, if the chimney breast has been removed on the ground floor, but is still in place on the first floor it may not be possible to see if the remaining chimney breast is adequately supported without opening up the floor or ceiling. A common feature that we also see is that the original chimney breast and fireplace is still in place on the ground floor, but the chimney breast has been removed on the floor above in order to install fitted wardrobes. This is fine in principle, just as long as you don’t light an open fire in the ground floor fireplace!
We think that really concludes our brief history of the fireplace and chimney, but we close by just summarising a few points that you need to bear in mind when looking at an older property.
– The number of chimney pots on the roof will give an indication of the number of open fireplaces that the house originally had.
– If the flues are redundant, have they been fitted with suitable terminals to prevent rainwater entering the flue and causing dampness inside the house?
– Have the fireplaces inside the house been removed and, if so, have the flues been ventilated to prevent damp and condensation occurring?
– Have any chimney breasts been removed and, if they have, are the remaining chimney breasts and stacks adequately supported? If chimney stacks have been removed, Building Regulation Approval would have been required and you should ask your solicitor or conveyance to check that all consents have been obtained if you are considering purchasing the property.
A Homebuyer Report or Building Survey will usually be able to highlight any serious issues, but obviously the surveyor cannot see the inside of the flues and it is not always possible to say whether or not flues are in working order.
Flues to open fireplaces should be swept at least once a year if they are in use and any gas appliances, such as fires and 