Pricing to knock out a fireplace

[DownmarketSellingSunset]

We've bought an old house which has a separate kitchen and dining room, there's a big old fireplace in the middle (floorplan attached). I've had a quote for 1k from a structural engineer to do the calculations but apparently no one can quote for the whole job until that's been done, which obviously isn't ideal as I'd like to know what I'm committing to before I drop that sort of cash. I know it will be expensive, but not whether we're talking £5k, £10k, £20k etc... has anyone done anything similar and have you got any costs? Or top tips?!

Are you are looking to remove the whole chimney breast between the two rooms? (Not just open up the fireplaces)

In which case you’d have to remove the chimney breasts and fireplaces above and the external chimney stacks. Plus possibly re-enforcing the walls where the chimney breasts have been removed and laying new floor joists, 4 new ceilings plus repair work to the roof and attic space. Not a builder, but have done extensive restorations on period houses. Unfortunately this would cost £££ (Although I totally see why you would want to open up the kitchen and dining room)

Hi, yes ideally I'd like to just knock out the wall. I know we can't just do that, it will need to be reinforced etc and that's where the big money is but I'd just like to know how big the money is before I explore other options!

In which case I think you would be looking at 15K + at least sadly.

I just wonder why you bought an old house when you want to do something like remove a big fireplace which gives it such character? I understand about wanting to modernise a house but only up to an extent....

I think you should be able to get builders to quote without the structural calculations. Ask them to assume the whole lot needs to come out on all floors incl new joists, roof repair etc as pp described. That is most likely anyway.

^^ This. It just makes me sad.

It would be great shame to demolish the fireplaces. Also the cost of supporting the chimney stack is high.

Have you considered opening up the space between the kitchen and breakfast room instead to achieve a big eat-in kitchen facing onto the garden . You could put French doors into open up towards the garden (although that would likely be £££ too as steels required to support external wall,

Yes I like the idea of going across the back rather than knocking through on one side.

Thanks for the unsolicited feedback🙄

Short answer- I don't have a price OP. It depends if you need a steel support (very expensive) and labour costs etc. Not just physically removing all the bricks- but disposing of them too such as in skips or giving them away.
We recently renovated what had been a derelict property
Strangely, its only on MN that people came to tell me 'what a shame', 'it makes me sad', 'you should keep the features' etc. We DID save everything we could! If we hadn't bought it, the other buyer was going to knock the house down and build 3 bungalows, so the fact we returned it to a family home, is a plus IMO. Some 'features' were unsafe, unusable and others odd- like a bidet in a separate room to the actual toilet! Should we have kept it like that because it was a bizarre feature??? 😕
Its very messy work OP- so I'd move out if you do get it done, or move to a garage/caravan to be onsite. Even things in other rooms will end up covered in dust and debris. Absolutely worth it for us though. I re-purposed 2 of the chimney surrounds and they look lovely, and the house works so much better for us.

That's slightly less than I thought it might be, actually. I had assumed £20k+. It might be cheaper to go out but I really like the symmetry and proportions of the and the downstairs as it is, and the downstairs toilet makes it tricky to go across.

You will need a beam to support the chimney stack. It cannot hang in mid air. I would say at least £15000 because this is quite a big job and the new beam must be inserted correctly for safety reasons. A builder will need to support the chimney stack whilst the fireplace is removed. It’s messy, dusty and not easy. Then theres demolishing the wall and working out if that’s load bearing or not.

My initial view was to remove the bathroom on the ground floor and make the kitchen and dining area go across the back of the house. You then get access to the garden and it’s leaving two rooms as a lounge and study if that suits your lifestyle. Almost certainly cheaper too and you could possibly extend outwards if you can afford it.

Thanks - this is very helpful! I love old houses, and want to save the original features where I can but maintaining a mausoleum which doesn't work for us seems bonkers. We love the fireplace in the living room and have had it cleared etc and it's now a lovely working fireplace which is amazing.

It does sound like it would be incredibly disruptive though, and if we can move the downstairs toilet I don't hate the idea of opening up the back rooms a bit more but I just don't know where the toilet would go, and we have to keep a downstairs one because of relatives with disabilities.

Far easier to move the downstairs cloakroom than the fireplace. You will not get an idea of costs until the calculations are done by an engineer. The largest expense willl be the steel beams required. I removed a wall between one part of a very old house and an old bothy. We required 4 steel beams to hold the upper part of the house up, no fireplace involved.

Could you not keep the fireplace but open it both sides and have a double sided woodburner? Personally though I would move the cloakroom.

A bit off tangent, but could you leave the actual fireplace in place as a double sided feature (even with a wood burner) and remove the walls either side?

Something like this photo attached?

You're not going to get a quote until the engineer has done the calculations, and builders don't like doing estimates.

Knocking out the ground floor fireplaces and wall on their own will need substantial steelwork to support the weight of the chimney suspended above. Taking out the entire chimney through the first floor and roof will reduce the strength requirement on the steelwork, but is much more disruptive.

Depending where you are in the country, I think you'll be looking at £15-20k.

Do bear in mind that if you knock through you will lose a wall currently available for kitchen storage. Open plan kitchen-diners generally have far less storage than separate rooms.

It may be difficult to match in the roof if you take down the external chimney. You could just take out the downstairs fireplaces and put in beams to support the rest of the chimney. What is the structural engineer doing calculations for? Taking down the whole thing, or supporting the rest of the chimney with beams in the downstairs ceiling, or removing upstairs chimney breasts, but keeping the external chimneys (if they are elegant) and to not have to match in the roof or all possibilities. Building work seems to be horrendously expensive these days but I wouldn't have thought less than £20,000, it's mainly labour and making good.

We had two chimneys completely removed, but that was a long time ago, we were having other work done so all the trades were on site and it was a bungalow so straight up into the roof space they did a great job of matching the old roof tiles so it really doesn't show at all. That part seemed cheap at the time compared to the extension work.

@DownmarketSellingSunset Just looking at the floorplan again, moving the cloakroom should be very easy as you are going to keep close to the in situ soilstack for both the cloakroom and the bathroom above it. Cost wise far less than the chimney removal.

How about downstairs loo where the utility currently is? It's a large enough space to possible also have a downstairs shower too (useful if you have dogs as weil if you have them?)

Our local pub has a set up like this and it’s really lovely.

As an aside OP - can I just say, I want a house with a breakfast room!

Just remove the kitchen one and have a 2 way wood burner in the lounge bit

I think widen out those two doors and change the fireplace into a walk around fire between the kitchen and dining room. Maybe even with an inbuilt barbeque.

That would be epic and probably cost a fraction of the price.

I would put the downstairs cloakroom in the store. Access through utility. Stores can be freestanding or in the garage.

I don’t like walk round open fires or wood burners. They get in the way and doubly unsafe for children. It’s much easier to put a cloakroom adjacent to where there is drainage and water already. So next to utility is ideal.

Lots to think about here - thanks everyone. I might try getting a quote for putting a loo in the utility and heating it properly, at the moment it is baltic in there and it's only October! Then opening up the breakfast room and kitchen, and perhaps thinking about something like @Another2Cats has suggested with two archways and a double sided fireplace or even indoor open flame cooking space. The breakfast room is currently the playroom but we could make the dining room the playroom easily, and it would be a bigger space.