Removing a corner chimney breast

[Mins]

Does anyone have any experience of this? We have them in our 30s semi in front and back bedrooms and living and dining room. We use the one in the living room (at front of house) but are thinking we'd like to remove the one in the back bedroom to give us more space for fitted wardrobes. When we moved into the house we were told by a friend of a friend who's an architect that we couldn't remove them unless the house we're attached to also removed theirs. Subsequently we've found out that they have already had their removed (before they bought the house in fact). Not sure how to go about this - what kind of person/company to contact - builder, structural engineer??? No idea really so please help wise MNers - if you work in this area or have a DH/DP who does or have had this work done would really appreciate some advice!

Bumping - anyone??? Surely someone must know about this kind of thing? Please please please........

not sure why the architect thought you needed the neighbour to do work too as it can be done without - it just depends on the type of support installed. best find a structural engineer as they will do drawings and calcs for the builder and building regs approval. the building regs approval is not essential but best to get to avoid problems when you come to sell. if your neighbour has also removed their chimney breast then a really complete job would be to take down the stack above roof level too, but that will probably cost more. in theory the party wall act will apply but should not be too onerous if you get on ok with your neighbours. however beware - some chimneys are poorly constructed and holes through the wall can appear to next door!! fingers crossed it doesnt happen but do keep a contingency aside for repairs to the wall and neighbours decorations. in other words do a very detailed survey of condition in thatarea on their side just in case. good luck

Contact a few builders for quotes and they should guide you. You will need building regulations approval for the works and may need a structural engineer to do all the calculations so building control are happy.

Ps, I don't agree with the above poster who says building regulations is not essential- you will need it for this work.

Thanks both - very useful but does sound maybe more complex than I thought it may be. Anyone have any ideas about cost? Still not sure who to contact first - structural engineer or builder? Any ideas?

structural engineer for the design.

builder if you want a budget price before commiting to the engineer.

the most important thing is to have it properly designed and installed to that spec.

if this is the case building regs is just a formality or rubber stamp.

granted the regs are the law but the chances of any enforcement action being taken are almost zero - based on my attempt to get our local office to do something about a genuinely dangerous structure without success!

so in practice the only time protocol is checked is when solicitors send their questionnaire - although sausage quite rightly is highlighting the letter of the law.

That's really helpful tricot - thank you.

Just to confirm - i think you should get building regs approval and you can ask your builder to include for the costs of the inspections in his quote.