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Hi all,
I own the top floor flat of a Grade 2 listed building. My kitchen is currently very small, 1.6m x 2.7m, and currently houses the boiler. I am currently in the process of extending the kitchen space into the living room to create a more useable kitchen space, however the new kitchen will still be fairly small in size due to the narrow width that will remain, wall space will also still be limited in the new kitchen as one of the walls is sloping.
The kitchen will be extended to steal some space from the living room. The problem is that all of the kitchen designs that I've had done require moving the boiler. The boiler currently sits on the end wall of the kitchen to the left of the hob. I've been told that I can have a freestanding narrow cooker in the current position next to the boiler, but not a fitted hob. It's been suggested that if I move the boiler onto the adjacent wall, then I should be able to retain the same flue setup, which currently runs directly out of the top of the boiler and through the roof at a fairly low level within the roof. I've also been told that moving the boiler or having a new one would likely require an entirely separate flue, as even moving the boiler by even several inches would require a new flue to be installed in a different location. I'm not sure which of these to believe.
I'm keen to avoid work on the flue if possible, as the roof is difficult to access at present, and scaffolding would cost a fortune on top of an already unwanted expense.
This is the front loft running above the bedrooms, where head height is slightly the taller of the two lofts.
If it's necessary to move the boiler then in a perfect world I'd like to relocate the boiler out of the kitchen, particularly if the cost of moving it a few inches is likely to be the same as relocating it elsewhere in the flat completely. There is no obvious location that I can move it to, as you can see from the plans attached, I don't have any cupboards or obvious nooks where I could hide it and the bathroom is fairly compact, there are only two locations that I can think of where it could go without moving it into the master bedroom (which I'd rather avoid).
The first is to move it into one of the two lofts. I've read the requirements for a loft boiler and I think it would be difficult to meet them but not necessarily impossible. I don't know how easy it would be to find someone prepared to install a boiler in such a confined space, and I haven't figured whether there would be enough room. I have included a few pics of the rear loft space, above my living room - it's not ideal from what I can tell from a height perspective, but there is a little more headroom in the front loft above the bedrooms (pictured above).
I don't know if a boiler would fit into this space, I suspect not?
The second option is that when the building was converted to flats they made one of the living room walls vertical, and left the eaves space behind empty. It's currently filled with building rubble left from the conversion, this is accessible via a small hatch, not large enough for an adult. As part of the building works I am thinking about making this space into a cupboard to house the boiler.
Not a great shot but this is the space left to the left of the living room on the plans, it's not easy to see from this pic but is around 50cms wide and runs along the length of the exterior wall.
To house a boiler in this space it would need to be fairly low down, my current boiler is 70cm tall, and I'm guessing to keep this boiler I would only have 30-40cm space beneath it, which I understand could be an issue. Is there another type of boiler that could fit into this space?
I'm in a quandary over what do do, I can't see that any of the alternative locations are going to work all that well. The current boiler was installed in 2011, before I owned the flat, and isn't exactly on its last legs but it needs to move from its current location, but I just can't see any other suitable locations that I can move the boiler into outside of the kitchen where it would work.
I'm assuming I'm looking at £500-1000 to move it within the kitchen depending what they can do with the flue, but I'm not really sure of the approximate cost of moving it to one of the locations above, or would any of them would even work?
Is there anything available which is much smaller than a conventional boiler that does the same job, that I could move to the other wall in my kitchen which wouldn't be so obtrusive?
I don't mind paying for something to make the problem of the boiler go away, but spending money on moving the boiler within the kitchen, where it's still in the way of useable room for cupboard space just seems like a bit of waste of money. I just don't know if there are any other solutions, any thoughts would be much appreciated.
Sorry for rattling on
I own the top floor flat of a Grade 2 listed building. My kitchen is currently very small, 1.6m x 2.7m, and currently houses the boiler. I am currently in the process of extending the kitchen space into the living room to create a more useable kitchen space, however the new kitchen will still be fairly small in size due to the narrow width that will remain, wall space will also still be limited in the new kitchen as one of the walls is sloping.
The kitchen will be extended to steal some space from the living room. The problem is that all of the kitchen designs that I've had done require moving the boiler. The boiler currently sits on the end wall of the kitchen to the left of the hob. I've been told that I can have a freestanding narrow cooker in the current position next to the boiler, but not a fitted hob. It's been suggested that if I move the boiler onto the adjacent wall, then I should be able to retain the same flue setup, which currently runs directly out of the top of the boiler and through the roof at a fairly low level within the roof. I've also been told that moving the boiler or having a new one would likely require an entirely separate flue, as even moving the boiler by even several inches would require a new flue to be installed in a different location. I'm not sure which of these to believe.
I'm keen to avoid work on the flue if possible, as the roof is difficult to access at present, and scaffolding would cost a fortune on top of an already unwanted expense.
This is the front loft running above the bedrooms, where head height is slightly the taller of the two lofts.
If it's necessary to move the boiler then in a perfect world I'd like to relocate the boiler out of the kitchen, particularly if the cost of moving it a few inches is likely to be the same as relocating it elsewhere in the flat completely. There is no obvious location that I can move it to, as you can see from the plans attached, I don't have any cupboards or obvious nooks where I could hide it and the bathroom is fairly compact, there are only two locations that I can think of where it could go without moving it into the master bedroom (which I'd rather avoid).
The first is to move it into one of the two lofts. I've read the requirements for a loft boiler and I think it would be difficult to meet them but not necessarily impossible. I don't know how easy it would be to find someone prepared to install a boiler in such a confined space, and I haven't figured whether there would be enough room. I have included a few pics of the rear loft space, above my living room - it's not ideal from what I can tell from a height perspective, but there is a little more headroom in the front loft above the bedrooms (pictured above).
I don't know if a boiler would fit into this space, I suspect not?
The second option is that when the building was converted to flats they made one of the living room walls vertical, and left the eaves space behind empty. It's currently filled with building rubble left from the conversion, this is accessible via a small hatch, not large enough for an adult. As part of the building works I am thinking about making this space into a cupboard to house the boiler.
Not a great shot but this is the space left to the left of the living room on the plans, it's not easy to see from this pic but is around 50cms wide and runs along the length of the exterior wall.
To house a boiler in this space it would need to be fairly low down, my current boiler is 70cm tall, and I'm guessing to keep this boiler I would only have 30-40cm space beneath it, which I understand could be an issue. Is there another type of boiler that could fit into this space?
I'm in a quandary over what do do, I can't see that any of the alternative locations are going to work all that well. The current boiler was installed in 2011, before I owned the flat, and isn't exactly on its last legs but it needs to move from its current location, but I just can't see any other suitable locations that I can move the boiler into outside of the kitchen where it would work.
I'm assuming I'm looking at £500-1000 to move it within the kitchen depending what they can do with the flue, but I'm not really sure of the approximate cost of moving it to one of the locations above, or would any of them would even work?
Is there anything available which is much smaller than a conventional boiler that does the same job, that I could move to the other wall in my kitchen which wouldn't be so obtrusive?
I don't mind paying for something to make the problem of the boiler go away, but spending money on moving the boiler within the kitchen, where it's still in the way of useable room for cupboard space just seems like a bit of waste of money. I just don't know if there are any other solutions, any thoughts would be much appreciated.
Sorry for rattling on
.