Large chimney repair

seanoge

I live in a terraced Town house wit a shared brick chimney with 12 pots(6 each). My side is in a bad state of repair, neighbour's side a bit better and the corpo has condemned the whole chimney. Neighbour has refused to have anything to do with it so Corpo suggests I rebuild my side. Is this possible??

sinnerboy

Possible - not really practical .

Recent changes in legislation have clarified adjoining owners rights and responsibility with respect to party structures. One may appoint a solicitor to make a court application for situations like yours.

Now this is is far as we can take this issue in this part the site. You could try asking again over at Legal Discusion

Thread locked.

sinnerboy

At the request of the OP I have opened up this thread again asking posters to contribute on the practical , buildability issues , steering clear of the legal.
Please note.

sinnerboy

It looks like the chimney needs re pointing as opposed to rebuilding. This is where the mortar joints between the bricks are raked out and re done basically. Same too with the mortar parging at the top of the chimney.

The most important issue is safe access both up to and around the chimney. The photo I attach gives you and idea of what to expect for working around the chimney. Once safe access is provided the works are very simple really.

I would first informally seek the consent of next door to allow you to have access to and work on his side and follow it up with a simple written agreement prepared by an architect or solicitor for you but to appear as if it is all your own words . If the neighbors agreement is not forthcoming then you will need a solicitor to prepare court actions and again I remind all lets not stray into a legal discussion here.

crockholm

Having looked at the pics,I would think that it would be possible to remove the bricks down to the course of staffordshire blues and then rebuild upwards,not as big a job as you'd imagine. Bring pesticide to kill any roots going down,cover it and rebuild.

As for the lower courses,they look ok,just rake them out and repoint,but repoint flush,not buckethandle.

Lovely chimney btw,cant bricks and all.

crockholm

Having looked at the second photo again,it looks like there have been attempts at repointing done,might I suggest that you don't use the same person again, it is not as well done as it should have been,and that's being kind.

seanoge

The house is a Protected structure, that's why the council is involved. They are insisting it is rebuilt. The neighbour has given permission for me to do what I want so long as it costs him nothing. But I cannot see how you can rebuild one side of this chimney without disturbing the other.
If you look carefully at the middle of the chimney there are 6 rows of bricks that look like they have been added. These bricks are bulging out for some reason. It can't be seen in the photos but is quite noticeable from the side.
I would like to take the main part down to the second row of blue bricks and rebuild and repoint the rest. Will talk to the council next week about this.
The scaffolding looks very good but not sure where you would get that in the N.West.

crockholm

As per the spec by Sinnerboy,I can't recommend anything other than is it possible to rebuild this. The good news is that it really is not that complicated to rebuild the chimney stack,scaffolding companies should have little problem in setting up a safe working area.

It will be rather costly though. If you so wish you can pm me on the brickwork,I won't be doing it as I'm living abroad,but I could offer my experience to preserve a well built part of our built history.