Chimney breast removal for storage reasons

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OK - so just a quick bit of background to my longish dilemma/vent. Family of 4, 2 DS age 5 and nearly 2. We live in a victorian-style 3 bed semi. All three bedrooms are decent double bed sizes, and in fact we have a small mini office attached to the master bedroom. We bought because of the lovely tall ceilings and location. It has been abused by previous owners with successive poor quality DIY.

I feel like I'm a bit stuck on how to set up the home for success. Storage is a big issue and we've sort of tinkered with it around the edges, buying multiple cupboards, book cases, chests of drawers etc. But it doesn't all hang together properly, in part because we have chimney breasts and radiators all in the wrong places.

Bedroom 1 - bed is up against chimney breast - wasted space, no room to put bed side tables off the shelf, would need to be bespoke. Other wall has radiator. Bed is massive superking so also an absolute pain to move, but we could use the storage opportunity underneath better.

Bedroom 2 - has double bed tucked in corner, again annoying chimney breast meaning no room for a full end to end wardrobe. None of the furniture was actually bought for the room, including the WFH office set up I have. Want DS5 to have this room but need to find a new home for its current contents such as adults coats, bedding, paperwork, printer etc.

Bedroom 3 - Kids share, cot bed, single (extendable) bed, 2 chest of drawers, a wardrobe, chimney breast (which the cot bed is up against) and then another pointless cupboard. Once DS5 moves, the cot bed goes and some of the toys downstairs can come back up.

So, in my view the most logical option is to take out all the chimney breasts upstairs. This would cost around 35k I reckon as we need multiple steels per room. Plus probably more for renovation etc.

Does that make sense?

I'd leave the downstairs chimney breasts in the living and dining rooms, but ultimately remove the one in the kitchen.

Just interested in hearing from others with similar set up how they solved their storage issues with this kind of age group?

And this is before I even talk about the kitchen/utility/conservatory space.

There's better ways to spend a grand imo.

And the rest!

I would say that your starting point is to declutter as much as you can! Most people have gf too much ‘stuff’ they think they will need someday, but they really don’t.
Also, we need a drawing!!!

Thats a lot of money. Id look at replacing radiators with underfloor heating and paying for bespoke cupboards instead.

Ok good point maybe some time to be spent on Pinterest etc on some inspiration....all I can picture is some old fashioned stuff!

We are in London too - I should be clear it is Victorian style, but not of the period in reality, so I don't necessarily feel the same kind of obligation towards the home, first and foremost it needs to function for us as a family long term and I share your thinking that in London usable space is a key selling factor.

Only one of the stacks is along the party wall. So I can solve 2/3 bedrooms without doing one if need be.

Very much a tentative estimate from a structural engineer a few years ago and the steels are the bulk of that. So yes a lot more would be needed to make good & beautiful. The house is not actually Victorian age formally, I said Victorian-style.

I'm happy to get bespoke joinery, have done so already downstairs and it looks great. Will see about a floorplan would be interested to get some creative thoughts on this.

The breast has been kept in the loft, the beam supports what is left but from the internal side. There’s possibly a heavy steel plate or something under the whole of the base of the stack as well, I seem to recall that but it may have been to do with supporting dodgy rafters (it’s a between the war building) - anyway the beam stretches from the front wall of the house to the rear wall. I am not explaining it well but the beam does take the weight of the stack, but it’s not against the party wall. Close but not against. The party wall is completely supported. The company are structural engineers, architects and party wall specialists and I was very happy with their credentials but I hold my hand up and admit I’m probably missing a vital piece of information about the process…

Fair comment - just to note, not officially a period home - it is in the style of as built outside of that period. All fireplaces already removed/boarded up by previous owners and a source of draft. There wasn't a single original Victorian feature in the home, so at this point it's all reconstruction at best. I've put in cornicing, skirting, ceiling roses to bring that feeling in but realistically no one would be convinced if I tried to market this as something period with some grand authentic provenance...it wouldn't hold up under scrutiny, and it doesn't need to, I need to function in the home I've bought and plan to live in for xyz years.

Yes and I'm in a continuous process of donating old clothes, toys etc...

The other problem is the bathroom but that's a whole other thread....

Underfloor heating is a great idea actually, thanks! I was debating carpet (reluctantly) but I could get behind this.

Made to mature furniture would be much cheaper and probably nicer. It sounds like you want modern IKEA style furniture to for an old house

Do you have any photos OP? I’m finding it difficult to visualise the problem. We are in an Edwardian semi and did a full renovation and decided to keep our chimney breasts in all but the kitchen (the bedrooms have very pretty original fireplaces I couldn’t bring myself to rip out). We have built in wardrobes in the alcoves and underbed storage.

Lots of people in the streets around me in my corner of London have - small terraces, but expensive. It’s actually a regret of mine that I did not do
it - and I will probably have to reconsider in the near future to make a smaller bedroom a better size.

As you say - £35k rather better than the alternative options.

I think it’s worthwhile - turns a ‘just’ double into quite a functional room.

Again this is >£1m+ territory however, which may make it seem a better investment.

Thanks, it's a very quirky house with some layout that could be challenging. There are several similar houses in the same lane. We have 2 fitted original feature cupboards that are both waxed wood so we did the same with the shelving. On the chimney breast I've got a pan shelf with hanging utensils. It's 90s Habitat olive wood.

Yep
Shepherd and Neame removed floors without listed building consent in our property!!!

Shocking!!!

Irrespective of all of that
If you removed a chimney brest on the party wall you must get a party wall agreement

What you propose in terms of works is neither here nor there in determining whether you need it. You are doing works to the party wall….thats enough

I just can't get my head around paying £35k to make space for storage and then buying storage units on top. Surely most of what you want to store is worth a lot less than that, unless you are diamond traders. You can get beds with built in storage, boxes that slide under beds, build in alcoves etc first for a lot less money.

All I can say is that the building inspectors were here a couple of times while the works was being done, and upon completion. Everything was done legitimately and through the proper channels 🤷🏻‍♀️

Building control have nothing to do with party wall awards.
They would neither recommend, ask or check.

Full responsibility is yours as the property owner. Some Architects ( we do) will hand out leaflets on it so owners can employ a Party wall surveyor, but again we are not obliged to and are not insured to recommend whether it’s needed or not.

Just to add to this we’re also in London and really lovely bespoke wardrobes seamlessly fitted into the alcoves from a well regarded, but not cheap, carpenter cost £6.5k each. Much cheaper than ripping out the chimney breasts after which you’ll still need storage.

OP, my house sounds exactly the same, 3 big(ish) bedrooms and 2 chimney breasts running through the house, one at front and one at back. We are also in London.

Do both chimney breasts have a fireplace? We removed the back one as it had no fireplaces, so no features lost. It made bedroom 1, the smallest, a square and made it feel SO much bigger. It also gave us a long wall downstairs to put our sofa against.
Bedroom 3 is a loft room so it has one chimney breast, but the removal of the other made it so that it's easier to place furniture in it.
Bedroom 2 still has the chimney breast. For us its an office/spare bedroom so we built custom furniture in it which gave us a ton of storage and looks great.

It will be a LOT of work and cost but would solve the issue. Alternatively you could make the alcove into fitted storage as you say the rooms are big so still plenty of space, much less hassle. Xx

All I'd say though is that the difference between Victorian and Edwardian houses is the width; chimney breasts sit easier and make rooms less crowded in Edwardian buildings as there's just that little bit more width to move around beds etc.