Removing a chimney breast takes away masonry that carries its own weight and, above the cut, the weight of whatever is left. What remains has to be supported, either on gallows brackets where building control accepts them, or on a steel beam. That is the engineer's decision rather than ours. We appoint the engineer, build to the calculations issued, and get the work inspected before it is covered.
The inspection stages for a breast removal come from the plan Central Bedfordshire issues for your job
Central Bedfordshire Council does not publish a fixed list of inspection stages. It says the stages you must notify are set out in the inspection service plan issued for your job. So what gets inspected is on your paperwork rather than on the council website, and we read it before the first brick moves.
Booking has a lead time. The council asks for contact no later than 3:30pm, two days before an inspection is required. On a breast removal that is the difference between a surveyor seeing the support and seeing a plastered ceiling. We book to the plan and hold the work at each stage until it has been seen.
A breast taken out years ago without approval can still be regularised
Central Bedfordshire Council will consider a regularisation certificate for unauthorised building work carried out on or after 11 November 1985. If you have bought a house with a breast already gone and no paperwork, that is the route. The word in the council's own description is consider, so it is not a formality.
We survey what is there first. Where the remaining masonry is carried properly, the job is evidence and an application. Where it is not, it is a support scheme designed by the engineer, then the application. Either way, you want to know which of the two you are in before you exchange, or before you put the house on the market.
About 4 per cent of Dunstable's homes date from before 1900, and they concentrate in the centre
That is against about 15 per cent across England and Wales, on Valuation Office Agency records. In the Dunstable Central area those records count about 560 homes built before 1900 and about 620 built between 1900 and 1918. Those are the houses with the deepest breasts and the stacks shared with next door.
What the stack is built of matters as much as its age. Totternhoe Stone comes from the stone pit west of Dunstable, the only producer of it, and masons call it a freestone because it can be worked in any direction. Where that stone is in the fabric, a bracket fixing or a padstone bears on something softer than brick, and the engineer needs to see it before specifying.
Council tax records count about 830 homes built between 1930 and 1939 in Dunstable West
Those sit within about 4,420 dwellings in that area. Interwar houses carry a breast on both floors, in the front room and the bedroom above it, with the stack going on through the roof. Taking out one floor leaves the upper breast and stack to be carried. Taking out both changes the roof and the flashing work as well.
The price follows that choice rather than the address. We survey, set out both options with the engineer, and quote the one you want as a fixed figure. Making good the ceiling, the floor and the roof is inside the quotation, not added at the end.
- Structural engineer's calculations arranged and followed
- Ventilated caps and airbricks to disused flues
- Steel beam support where gallows brackets are unsuitable
- Full chimney stack removal and roof making good
- Fireplace opening infill and new plasterboard finish
The GS Renovation Difference in Dunstable
The decision that sets the price is whether the remaining masonry can sit on gallows brackets or needs a steel, and that is the structural engineer's call rather than ours. We appoint the engineer, build to the calculations issued, and get the support seen by Central Bedfordshire's building control before it is covered. Where the stack sits on a party wall, a notice to your neighbour belongs in the sequence before work starts. You get one point of contact for the engineer, the removal, the plastering and the roof work. GS Renovation Ltd is fully insured, registered in England, company number 14611254, and quotations are free and without obligation.
- Dust screens and floor protection in occupied homes
- Party Wall Act notices served for stacks in a shared wall
- Neighbours spoken to early when the stack is shared
- Materials priced at options, so you choose the finish
- Cornice, skirting and picture rail matched back in
- Straight advice on what is and is not worth spending money on