In the terraced streets around Ravenscourt Park the chimney is built into the wall you share, which brings the Party Wall Act in from day one. Notices go out, the adjoining owner responds or surveyors are appointed, and only then do we prop and cut. What stays above lands on steel to the engineer's calculation.
Removing a chimney breast in a Hammersmith terrace
Most Hammersmith terraces still carry their original breasts, projecting into the reception rooms and bedrooms and eating into the floor plan. Because the breast helps support the masonry stack rising above it, we never simply knock it out. A structural engineer first confirms what is being carried, then specifies how the retained brickwork above will be supported once the breast at that level is gone.
Where a breast is removed on a lower floor with stack remaining above, we support that stack on steel gallows brackets bolted into the party wall, or on a small beam where brackets are not suitable. On homes where the stack is fully redundant and runs to the roof, it is often cleaner to take the whole stack down and make the roof good. A stack is never left unsupported.
Party wall and damp control in W6
In these terraces the chimney stack sits within the party wall shared with the house next door, so removing a breast or bolting gallows brackets into that wall is notifiable under the Party Wall Act. You serve notice on the neighbour before work starts, which is routine for the tightly built streets between Fulham and Shepherd's Bush and keeps everyone informed.
The structural support is inspected under the Building Regulations by Hammersmith and Fulham building control, not planning. We also deal with the practical details that matter in a period home: capping any redundant flue with ventilation so the stack breathes and damp cannot build up, then replastering the wall flush. The finished room reads as if the breast was never there.
Your neighbour's flue and their fireplace
In a W6 terrace the stack you are working on is usually shared, with your flues and your neighbour's rising side by side in the same brickwork. That has two consequences. Their flues have to stay intact and working, so we do not cut into or block a flue that is not yours, and where the stack comes down above the roof only your half is taken off and their side is rebuilt and weathered.
If your neighbour still uses an open fire or a stove, it is worth telling them before work starts, because scaffold, sheeting and a partly rebuilt stack can affect the draught for a few days. Their sweep may want to check it afterwards. This is separate from the party wall notice, though it usually forms part of the same conversation. Keeping a neighbour informed in a terrace near Ravenscourt Park is what keeps the job straightforward.
- Building control notification and inspection sign-off
- Fireplace opening infill and new plasterboard finish
- Loft inspection of the retained stack before work starts
- Soot and debris contained with screens and sheeting
- Skirting, cornice and picture rail matched back in
Why Choose GS Renovation in Hammersmith
Hammersmith homeowners choose GS Renovation because we treat chimney breast removal as the structural job it is. You get an engineer-designed support solution, gallows brackets or a beam fitted correctly and building control handled, and tidy working in an occupied W6 home. More than 30 years across the borough's terraces stand behind the result.
- The retained stack inspected from the loft before we start
- Neighbours spoken to early when the stack is shared
- Neighbours given notice before the noisy stages
- Photographs kept at each stage for your records
- Roof, flashing and leadwork made good where a stack comes down
- Straight advice on what is and is not worth spending money on