We are having a new bathroom fitted in our victorian terrace and returning the lowered ceiling to its original height. On opening up corner of the lowered ceiling to have a look, we discovered the that at some point the old chimney stack had been removed to ceiling height and left unsupported!
The stack above roof level has been removed, leaving about 1m of stack left in the loft space which is tied into both the party wall and exterior wall. As you can see its only small.
There are about 4 courses of brick between the lowered ceiling and original ceiling height which we plan on removing so we can overboard, but after that arent sure what to do?
Our next door neighbour who has already removed the chimney on their side of the party wall and has said as its small and tied into two walls it should be fine. As its already been like that for decades before we found it we are inclined to agree but that still leaves the chimney technically unsupported.
As the remaining stack is small, my thoughts were to put in a small concrete lintel going diagonally from the party wall (left) to the exterior wall (right) for some added support but not sure if this is ok? I've looked at gallows backets in the loft but as everything is lime mortar also read they shouldnt be used?
any thoughts much appreciated!
The stack above roof level has been removed, leaving about 1m of stack left in the loft space which is tied into both the party wall and exterior wall. As you can see its only small.
There are about 4 courses of brick between the lowered ceiling and original ceiling height which we plan on removing so we can overboard, but after that arent sure what to do?
Our next door neighbour who has already removed the chimney on their side of the party wall and has said as its small and tied into two walls it should be fine. As its already been like that for decades before we found it we are inclined to agree but that still leaves the chimney technically unsupported.
As the remaining stack is small, my thoughts were to put in a small concrete lintel going diagonally from the party wall (left) to the exterior wall (right) for some added support but not sure if this is ok? I've looked at gallows backets in the loft but as everything is lime mortar also read they shouldnt be used?
any thoughts much appreciated!