The Tricky Chapter of Chimney Breast Removal – An account

When it comes to dismantling or renovating chimneys, one of the trickiest episodes is removing and replacing, lowering, or renovating its breast. Taking down chimney breasts is a tricky affair and one has to be very choosy when it comes to selecting a company for the task.

However, at first, we need to know why it becomes necessary to get rid of chimney breasts.

Generally, chimney breasts are removed by the property owners when they no longer need fire, or they need more living space. The old-fashioned buildings had fireplaces in every room – something which is no longer needed after the advent of the central heating system. Thus, these chimneys are left unused, leading to scarcity of spaces. Hence, this raises the need to bring them down.

The challenges faced

The fact that the breasts of chimneys form the very part of the structure of a house poses the real challenge when it comes to dismantling them. Unless the entire chimney is removed from the fireplace to the roof stack, adequate support needs to be provided with the help of beams while dismantling them.  

There are situations when the chimney breast is the part of the wall, which is the property of the owner’s neighbour (this happens when two adjacent properties have one shared wall). Or it may be that only that of the upper floor chimney needs to be dismantled, leaving the one at the ground lower floor(s) working fine.

In these cases, special techniques are to be used, and only experienced companies are capable of that. That is the reason only those who are experienced and specialised in wall building services in Freemantle along with chimney services should be engaged. This is needed for avoiding any structural distress and saving the ceiling and the walls from collapsing because of the lack of adequate support. 

The correct approach, whatsoever

In the instances as mentioned above, and in other cases, interference of experienced engineers is significant for guaranteeing safe removal of the breast. These professionals take a hard look at the situation and recommend an appropriate method.

Once the engineers have taken stock of things, and the consent of the property owner and the neighbour have been taken, the work can start. In fact, as per the Party Wall Act, 1996, written consent of the neighbour needs to be taken before the commencement of the work.

The options available:

• The engineers of the chimney removal Perth companies can remove the chimney from below the ceiling
• The breast can be dismantled from the internal storey
• They can be removed from every room
• The breasts, in some instances, can be removed from the lofts and the attics

The final verdict

Finally, coming to taking the final call, all these issues are to be taken into account before the chimney breast can be removed successfully. This, once the breast is removed, it is important to decide whether the hearth needs to be replaced. In case, there is a need to replace it, the floorboards and the joists have to be extended to avoid any damage to the ceiling.