GS Renovation removes chimney breasts throughout Kentish Town, reclaiming space in the Victorian and Edwardian terraces off the high street and towards Camden Market. With over 30 years of structural work in NW5, we take out redundant breasts, properly support the stack that remains, and leave the room squared off and replastered with no trace of the old flue.
Chimney breasts in Kentish Town's period terraces
The terraces around Kentish Town almost all keep their original chimney breasts, and the flues are typically shared through the party wall with the house next door. Because a breast helps carry the masonry and stack above, removing one is never just knocking out brickwork. We start with a structural engineer's assessment of what the breast is supporting, floor by floor, before deciding how to hold up what stays.
Homeowners here usually remove the breast in a bedroom or reception while keeping the stack above, or take the lot out from ground to roof. Where the breast goes but the stack stays, we support the retained masonry on steel gallows brackets bolted into the party wall, or a beam where brackets are unsuitable. A stack is never left hanging unsupported over the room below.
Party wall and building control in NW5
Where an entire full-height stack is redundant, we often remove it completely and make the roof good with new rafters, felt, battens and matching tiles or slates, rather than leave dead weight and a damp-prone flue in the wall. Any flue we retain is capped with a vent and ventilated at the base so the redundant shaft cannot trap moisture and stain the finished plaster later on.
Because the stack sits within the shared party wall with the neighbour, removal and the fixing of gallows brackets are notifiable under the Party Wall Act, so we serve notice before work begins. The structural support is notifiable under the Building Regulations, and Camden Council's building control inspects and certifies it. We manage the engineer's calculations, the notices, safe removal and the making good as one job.
- Structural engineer calculations
- Party Wall Act notices for shared stacks
- Making good, plastering and reinstating the wall
- Flue capping, ventilation and building control sign-off
- Chimney breast removal on one or all floors
Trusted Chimney Breast Removal in Kentish Town
Kentish Town 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 correctly fixed, the Party Wall Act and Camden building control handled end to end, and tidy working in an occupied NW5 home, finished and replastered, all backed by 30+ years.
- Free, no-obligation quotations
- Over 30 years of experience
- Dedicated project management
- Fully insured and guaranteed work
- Building control and planning support
- Clean, tidy and reliable tradespeople