Chimney Breast Removal Potters Bar

Removing a chimney breast frees up floor area on one or both floors, and it takes support away with it. GS Renovation removes breasts in Potters Bar to a structural engineer's design, whether that turns out to be gallows brackets or a steel beam. Indicative London ranges, MyBuilder and Checkatrade, 2026: one floor with gallows brackets accepted, £1,500 to £2,500; one floor where a steel beam is needed, £2,200 to £3,250; two floors, £3,000 to £5,000.

What approval a chimney breast removal needs

Building regulations approval. Hertfordshire Building Control names removing chimney breasts as a structural alteration to an existing building that needs it. Whatever is left above has to be supported or taken down as well, and that decision belongs to the engineer.

Hertfordshire Building Control states that structural calculations should be designed or checked by a Chartered Structural Engineer, MIStructE, and that an additional fee of £75 plus VAT may apply if its consultant engineers have to review them. Whether gallows brackets are accepted or a beam is required follows from that design, which is why we settle it before the price is fixed.

Chimneys in the Royds Conservation Area

Changing one needs planning permission. An Article 4 Direction covering The Royds Conservation Area was confirmed in July 2015, and inside that area planning permission is required for changes to any chimney, including its removal. Hertsmere's Royds design guide asks owners to retain original chimney stacks and pots, and calls them a distinctive feature of the Hicks house designs. It states that proposals resulting in the loss of an original stack will not be supported.

There is a cost to the application now. Applications made because of the Royds Article 4 Direction were originally free of charge, but Hertsmere Borough Council states that the government removed that exemption on 17 January 2018 and a fee is now payable. For a Royds address, that is the first thing to check.

Why the stack above is part of the street's appearance

Because the conservation area documents single it out. The Royds appraisal lists tall brick chimney stacks among the typical features of the estate's houses. The same list includes Tuscan columns and oriel bay windows on the larger bungalettes, brick quoins, neo Tudor half timbered elements on front facing gable ends and peg tile roofs. The appraisal records the lowering of the original brick chimney stacks as one of the changes that has negatively affected the architectural cohesiveness of the estate.

Darkes Lane (West) tells the same story in render. There are sixteen two storey houses around the two private communal greens on Heath Drive, numbers 5 to 21 odd and 8 to 22 even. They share rendered walls, hipped concrete tile roofs, rendered chimney stacks, red tile window sills and central exposed brick porches. Taking the breast out internally while leaving the stack supported above is one route, and it is a structural decision as much as a visual one.

• Roof tiling, flashing and leadwork made good
• Rubble bagged and carried out rather than dropped inside
• Soot and debris contained with screens and sheeting
• Ventilated caps and airbricks to disused flues
• Ground floor removal with the upper stack fully supported

If this is your first project in Potters Bar, these are worth a look: Home renovation in Potters Bar, Chimney breast removal in Borehamwood, contract and payment stages and cracks in walls: when to worry.

The GS Renovation Difference in Potters Bar

Two questions get answered before we quote, not after: what holds the stack up, and whether the change needs planning permission as well as building regulations approval. Inside the Royds the chimney itself is controlled, and everywhere the removal is a structural alteration requiring building regulations approval. We appoint the structural engineer, build to their design, and coordinate the application and inspections. Free, no obligation quotations, and GS Renovation Ltd is fully insured.

• Itemised pricing, so you can see what every stage costs
• Paperwork and certificates handed over for when you sell
• Photographs kept at each stage for your records
• The retained stack inspected from the loft before we start
• Cornice, skirting and picture rail matched back in
• Aftercare and snagging support once the job is finished

Written and reviewed by Abdelaaziz Saaid, founder of GS Renovation Ltd, who has spent more than 30 years on the tools and on site in London homes. Structural design is specified by the consulting engineer appointed to your project.