Removing a chimney breast takes away a load path, so the question is always what happens to everything that was sitting on it. The breast in the room above, the stack at roof level and the hearth below all have to be dealt with as one design. We appoint a structural engineer to specify the support, whether that is gallows brackets where they are accepted or a steel beam where they are not, and we coordinate the building control application and inspections.
Whether the work needs planning permission as well
Inside a conservation area, demolition is a planning matter. St Albans City and District Council states that planning permission is required for relevant demolition within a conservation area. The council adds that demolishing a building within a conservation area without that permission, where it is required, is a criminal offence. Taking a stack down below the roofline changes the outside of the building, so we check that constraint against your address on the council's planning constraints map before pricing.
Who inspects the work
Building control for Harpenden is delivered as a shared service, with St Albans District Council and Watford Council working in collaboration across both areas. The application for a chimney breast removal goes there, with the engineer's calculation for the support. We coordinate the application, arrange the inspections and hand over the completion paperwork at the end, which is the part that matters when you come to sell.
Stacks in the West Common houses
West Common was brought into the conservation area by the 1983 extension. The council records that the area largely remained open farmland until the construction of West Common Way in the 1930s. It also records that much of that development was initiated by a local building firm, E.C. Jarvis, who designed and built many of the houses, with other designs the work of a Harpenden architect, Eustace Salisbury.
In 1925 Flowton Priory, a substantial timber framed house of the sixteenth century, was moved from Ipswich to Harpenden and set up in a garden on West Common. It is now Grade II listed, and the council records that it provided a model for the imitation timber framing used on the inter war houses nearby. Where external detailing was designed to be read as a whole, losing a stack is a visible change, so the constraint is worth checking early.
- Full chimney stack removal and roof making good
- Roof tiling, flashing and leadwork made good
- Ground floor removal with the upper stack fully supported
- Fireplace opening infill and new plasterboard finish
- Gallows bracket support for a retained stack above
Why Harpenden Homeowners Choose GS Renovation
A chimney breast removal is judged on what supports the part you leave behind. We appoint the structural engineer, and the design comes back either as gallows brackets where building control accepts them or as a steel beam where it does not. We build to that calculation, coordinate the application and the inspections, and give you the completion paperwork at the end. We are fully insured and our quotations are free and carry no obligation.
- One point of contact on the phone, not a call centre
- Paperwork and certificates handed over for when you sell
- The retained stack inspected from the loft before we start
- Structural engineer instructed and coordinated on your behalf
- Roof, flashing and leadwork made good where a stack comes down
- Steel beam support used where gallows brackets are not suitable