Neighbour wants to vent wood burner flue pipe on their wall, which is the boundary to our property

[OnceAnOwl]

My neighbour told me they are planning on getting a wood burner to replace their balanced flue gas fire and asked me if we would mind the pipe going up their wall as it overhangs onto our side access. He said he was happy to involve solicitors and make sure it was done properly in case either of us move. Initially I was positive and said I'd need talk to DH, but now I've been worrying about it all day.

Just to put some detail on it, our houses are detached and on a modern estate. Their gas fire vents onto our side access (the distance from their house to side of our garage at that point is about 2m, our garage is attached to our house) and it can be like this because it was built like that before the building regs said you couldn't vent gas fires onto another person's land. I believe our neighbour would want to replace the existing flue with a Twin Wall flue pipe which then goes up their wall to above their roof. We don't live in a smoke free zone, I checked.

My concerns are:

1. Will the pipe get hot? (their existing balanced flue has a basket round it)

1. Will it look unsightly? (whilst we can't see it unless we walk round the side it might put future buyers off)

1. Will it be smoky? (I'm quite sensitive to smoke, get chesty and like my windows open. My teenage DS's bedrooms are on that side of the house and they spend a lot of time in them.

I think DH and I have decided we don't really relish the thought of a wood burner, so logic says that we would say no to a pipe going up their wall but in our airspace. However I like to be a good neighbour, live and let live etc. and I know they really want a wood burner. If we say no they could still go ahead, putting the pipe through the bedroom but I know it would be more difficult. It might mean the end of good neighbourly relations. But if we say yes then we have a silver pipe overhanging our side passage and maybe wood smells. Help!

Is their house on the boundary? I would say no if it would come over your fence. Have you a picture?

I'd rather not put a picture up but yes their house wall meets our land. If you imagine open plan front gardens, typical modern estate.

There's a gate to the back garden half way along the passage, so the tube would be in the front garden but at the side of the house. The way the houses are angled means you wouldn't see it unless you went round the side.

I would stick with no as they will need to access your land to maintain it. Day to day I don't think it will impact on your life but it will get warm (probably not hot) and would put me off as a buyer. Your current neighbours will probably use smokeless fuel and be considerate but new owners down the line may not. Seems a lot of possible hassle unless they are offering compensation.

6to replace the existing flue with a Twin Wall flue pipe which then goes up their wall to above their roof^
So will the end of the new wood burner flue be above their roof ? And higher than the existing outlet ? I'd have thought that would be an improvement on the existing situation where I'm imagining the vent is lower and giving off fumes that go up and past windoes ?

I wouldn't worry about maintenance ,it would be minimal ,or none surely .

I stand to be corrected - maybe by pigletjohn - but it sounds ok . I don't blame you for worrying though ,especially as it seems a bit of an unknown quantity .

Hope others who have this set up can offer advice .

Yes the flue will be above the roof, at the moment it's about 1.2m off the ground, so it could be considered an improvement but gas fumes from a gas fire don't really smell as much as wood?

We have an external flue (metal tube going up the side of the house). You can't smell wood smoke because the smoke leaves the flue above the house. You don't even see smoke, just a heat shimmer. (We are always careful to use decent dry wood. ) However the flue is supposed to be swept once a year. So you neighbours would need access for that.

Thanks all so far...Clearsomespace, does your pipe get hot?

I don't know. We have plenty of land on that side so don't ever go near it. I can check next time we use the burner and report back if you'd like. It's mild where I am at the moment so may not be for a few days.

Don't burn yourself though!

It will be hot.
It's a metal chimney with a liner.

Smoke would be very unlikely to bother you though.

So if it's hot, how is it protected from anyone who could walk round the side and touch it?

We have one too and depending on how the wind is blowing I think you will be able to smell it especially when first lit till it gets up to temperature.
I have no idea if it gets hot though. No one walks round the side of our house where it is. The chimney sweep will need access once a year to sweep it.

Rainbow, ours is a small diameter pipe inside a wide diamater pipe. I don't know if the outside one gets hot. Our friends' burner pipe goes up through their bedroom (inside the wardrobe) before going through the roof and it doesn't get hot.

it's twin wall so the outside shouldn't get hot and you will be no more bothered by smoke with the neighbours doing it this way than if they went through the bedroom and then through the roof void

You will see some smoke on initial start up- it's impossible not to- and even in smoke-free zones you are allowed for this. However this should abate after twenty mins or so once the fire is up and running

This is allowing for the neighbours using decent, well seasoned wood though; if they are burning green stuff then you will get smoke and smelly stuff at that. Maybe have a chat with them to see and discuss what they plan burning?

wood burning stove owner here for last 6 yrs

I would be more bothered about the flue physically overhanging your property where it comes out and up. For your neighbours, putting the flue up the outside wall is the easy option as it means they don't have to take it through their own house. It is likely to be cheaper for them to do that too. Provided they don't have legal costs.

Yes, I would want any agreement documented and I would take legal advice before signing any such agreement - is your neighbour offering to pay your costs? Anything which is agreed would affect a sale of your house in the future. They will need access for maintenance and so on. It may not be visible from outside on the street, but it will still be bloody ugly and who will see it? You and your family.

I would say no. If they really want it, they can out the flue through their own house.

I would look at this as why would anyone want any part of an NDN's property overhanging theirs?

It's a bit like saying can I extend the fence a bit to make my veggie patch bigger?

Er.... no.

Hard to see how any legal agreement would make a future would-be buyer of your house feel OK.

My point exactly echt - I think concern over smoke and fumes is missing the main point. If they really want it then they'll put the flue inside. My sister has done this, but admittedly she lives in a bungalow so it goes through the ceiling and up through the loft.

I think they are being quite cheeky why can't the flue run internally? I just wouldn't do it there is no upside for you and if you want to sell it may impact on your value/saleability. But mainly I am too territorial I love my detached house first one I have lived in and I wouldn't give up an inch of it interestingly my dh says it wouldn't really bother him as long as it was higher than head height when it emerges iykwim.

Thanks all. Your comments are helping me to see that the wood burning is not the concern but the being on our property is.

The fact that there would be a legal agreement means it's a compromise and the fact that I woke up in the night worrying about it which means we should not agree.

I think there are some advantages to them having it go through the house I think is cheaper and they get the bedroom warmed as well. I think it also draws better if the metal pipe is not so cold when the fire is first lit. The disadvantage is they have to box it in and lose some floor space.
I don't think they are ugly on the outside wall though. Ours looks nice. I would buy a house with the neighbours chimney there, it wouldn't bother me.

Sorry that was an unhelpful post on the run!

The flue will be a metal chimney, sucking the smoke up, away from the ground level so it won't be blowing around. As others have said you may smell the start of the fire but just a whiff if it stinks of burning then the chimney is wrong

It would be hot to touch when the fire is burning hence the second wall (instead of cages) so you can't touch it.

(As an aside one they took off our neighbours house had vermaculite stuff in the cavity between but not sure if they all do.)

As a pp said even if these neighbours are great, burn only perfect seasoned wood and get the chimney swept and inspected twice a year etc they may move out and some pudding who likes to burn wood from his mates garden and a duvet move in.

Personally I would approach it like that.

Plus they are losing the residue heat from the chimney.

Our stainless steel twin walled flues up the outside of the house do have insulation between the two walls. I think they all do. I would think though that they still get warm but not boiling hot. I will test ours tomorrow when I'm home again.

It's up to you what you do, but i will say that modern efficient wood burners have very little smoke - there may be a bit when the fire is initially lit, but when it gets up to speed the fire burns so efficiently there is very little in the way of smell or smoke. Although our internal part of the double-insultated pipe gets hot to touch, the external one gets warm but not hot, on the only bit we can reach. It's about my head height where it comes out of the wall, and whilst it's not the prettiest thing in the world, we don't notice it anymore, even though it comes out the back of the house so we can see it from the garden.

The external works took half a day so there wan't too much disruption either.

I guess it depends on your relationship with your neighbours, how much you use the side path, what sort of things you might want to carry down there - what would happen if it got damaged by you having work/carrying something down there?

I would say no. They can run the pipe up the wall inside their house, and actually that's better for the chimney anyway (maintains the highest possible temp inside the chimney so you get a cleaner burn, and you keep more of the heat inside your building).

We live rurally (no NDN issues) and the flue pipe is fully exposed in from top of stove to ceiling (double hight!), and on through the roof. Looks great imo and we get a great "draw".