by TheGardener »
Fri Oct 28, 2016 5:18 pm
On the house built c. 1900 there is a very small chimney stack about twelve bricks high, less than 3 feet tall, shared with next door rising up from the eaves, two flues wide, one per house. It is no longer in use. Inside the house the stack, from where it originally connected to an oven or boiler right up through the bathroom, has been removed. Both downstairs and upstairs there is no evidence of a corner brace or support as the interior walls that meet at the relevant corner below the brick stack are at right angles and faced with stone tiles. Should I be concerned about whether the exterior wall is sufficient to support what is after all a small chimney? The brick area of the chimney is about one cubic foot spread over a long thin rectangle worth of chimney. According to one post that would weigh 45 kilos. shared between two houses with the centre crossing the next-door structural wall at a right angle. It has been has never been a problem, but something discovered by chance has made me very concerned. I've been losing sleep if I'm honest. On a different site people seem to disagree about whether or not the stack needs to be removed or supported. I am having to learn from scratch so any help would be much appreciated. Sorry not to be able to upload any photos but I was told last week that my computer needs replacing and I can't afford that yet! As you can tell from my screen name, I belong in the garden. Please help. Thanks.
