Removing last few chimney remnants?

[joidevie]

Would anyone bother removing around the last 80cm or so of chimney just under the roof space?

I've just removed the 'chimney breast' from the first floor (bathroom) which had been left there (in front of a window!).. The ground floor section had be removed by the previous owners many moons ago. It was of 'tomette & chalk' construction and lifted away fairly easily with a big hammer..

Question is, above the false ceiling remains roughly 80 cm of 'leftover' chimney breast firmly attached to the wall, currently with nothing supporting it from below... It seems very intact and solidly attached (around 60cm wide & 25cm deep).. But a huge hassle to rip out the ceiling to remove the last tomettes..

There is no chimney left above the roof tiles as it has long ago been tiled over and blocked..

I'm no structural engineer, and wanted to get any second 'opinions' or thoughts on saving a lot of additional work..

Many thanks as ever for all your help..

[Anton Redman]

Any chance of a 'photo but if there has been nothing holding it up for a few years I would leave well alone rather than messing with the wall.

I thought we had a unique problem with a chimney immediately in front of window.

[Chancer]

Does the chimney continue into the loft space (I am assuming not a flat roof) above the false ceiling void or is it just the remains in the void?

If the former than just board the loft and no-one except yourself will be any wiser.

I removed a chimney from above the roof line and then converted the grenier to living accomodation, I now have a further false loft of about 1m high, I started removing the chimney from in there but it was a real faff carting away all the debris, then I decided to leave it as a feature wall in the apartment at that end. The chimney had already been removed from the 2 floors beneath but I am fairly certain that what remains on the 3rd floor and in the new loft space above is not properly supported, if at all, I reconcile myself with the thought that it hasnt fallen down for the last 40 years and that I have already removed a couple of tonnes of mass from the top.

[joidevie]

[quote user="Anton Redman"]I thought we had a unique problem with a chimney immediately in front of window.[/quote]

Clearly not! A very bizarre place, half obscuring the window..

It's not really a loft space as it's a less tall addition to the house without a 'grenier'', probably done 100 or so years ago. Highish ceilings, but sensibly lowered to make it easier to heat and cosier for a bathroom. I suppose before I took out the tomettes (which the chimney were built of) the 'chimney' (I call it that, but in truth it's a 100 old version of the modern built with clay blocs type), it had some form of support from the floor where it 'rested' (without any huge attention to strengthening). Now, I guess a dozen or so tomettes are 'hanging' off the wall above the false ceiling forming the last metre or so of the so called chimney, but seem pretty solidly attached. My gut instinct (and will to live) are to leave it and cover up.. I guess the worst that could happen is they fall off, but as there's no actual chimney above the roof tiles, hardly a titanic collapse, more a pain in the.. ?

It's hard to know how many cans of worms to open doing these projects?

[fisherman]

If I understand you correctly previously the weight of the chimney would have been spread over a relatively long section of wall. Admittedly there is now a lot less weight however you have a short cantilever levering on the top section of the wall structure. Because it is the top section there will not be a lot of bricks above it to counterbalance the force. Possibly a good buffeting from a gale force wind may be enough to tip the balance.

Without seeing it, its difficult to tell but you may be more comfortable in either reducing some of the mass furthest from the wall or placing some support under the outer end.

[Chancer]

A good point Fisherman

[joidevie]

[quote user="Chancer"]A good point Fisherman[/quote]

Agreed.. Maybe step latter time again.. Thanks.

[BIG MAC]

Or construct a corbel to carry the weight. Bearing in mind that gables, when they go tend to be 'sucked out' rather than 'blown' in and that the ridge more than likely picks up on the chimney breast or vey near it I would suggest a couple of substantial steel 'gallows brackets' may be sufficient and that they in turn should have a length of angle iron across them to prevent ' loose' masonry falling from the otherwise unsupported area between them.

That the thing hasn't fallen in would suggest it probably has some structural integrity but needs a bit more thinking about. Think of it as a stone box attached to the upper gable in bond. To remove it you would likely have to take down the upper gable and rebuild it sans chimney.