DIY Doctor UK DIY Forums

Hi

I'm wondering if anyone could advise on what these strange corners in my first floor bedrooms might be please?

Background is the house is a 1940s ish semi-detached. I don't think it's a chimney as that is on the other side of the house as shown in the picture. The ground floor and attic do not have these odd corners and meet at right angles. I'm tempted to try knocking the walls back to get a bit more space.

Any advice would be appreciated!

A nice easy peasey one. In days gone by the most economic way of building 'budget' homes was to build a huge rectangle and divide it into rabbit hutch sized dwellings. It gave our war heroes a place to live when they returned from war to allow us the freedom we now enjoy as sad an effort as it was.

Well, back in the day the cost cutting exercise continued and dare I say a good one too. A single flue was constructed and they accommodated a ground floor hearth and a separate flue for fires in the bedrooms (for those posh people) the heat within the flue would be exuded into the rooms of both the adjoining houses as well as your home and the sleeper would not freeze to death.

When I was a kid we had single glazed Crittall steel framed windows and in the winter there was a heavy build up of ice inside the window. Jeeez it was cold. However our house was at the time a state of the art construction. Now they would be condemned but that is how it was and you have a piece of history further back in the dark ages. You may be able to see in your living room where the old fireplace was an since been removed to upgrade to modern living. Plumbers often used the disused flues to feed their pipe work through but you must be very carefull if you decide to remove the 'oddities' so to acquire more space.

Would I remove them if it were my house? You bet I would but I am very aware of the dangers associated with the removal of flues.

Hope that's the answer you wanted to hear and let us know how you get on
Hugh

PS Please, please do not undertake the removal before you understand and prepare for the imminent dangers involved.