Chimney Problem

Mrgg

Looking for a bit of direction of who might be best to engage here.

Two story timber frame house build approx 2005, with large chimney approx 10ft rising from tiles to the top of the roof. Approx 6 months after buying house I noticed that there was a banging/creaking noise from that can be heard in upstairs bedroom where the chimney passes through, this only happens when there are very strong winds. I investigated further and went up into attic, the noise was coming from the chimney and when i put my hand on the chimney block there is movement of approx 1inch (moving with the wind). The exact location of the noise i can't see but its definitely the chimney movement causing it.

I spoke to someone and they mentioned that these are not standard block chimneys and have steel bars running all the way into the foundation and then precast blocks lifted onto the bars.

I'm told there is no fear that it will come down but the noise is very annoying and unsettling.

The way I see it i have two options.

1:Some sort of repair to stop the chimney movement (no idea what this might be), hopefully not involving a full rebuild.
2:Remove the chimney to below the roof and then just slate/tile over. Not a fan of this as will likely be a problem if i ever wanted to sell in the future

I've looked online and can find no other examples of people posting similar problems to me so i'm assuming this is quite a rare problem.

I am thinking of engaging a structural engineer but i'm unsure if this would be the best person to offer a solution to the problem.

Any insight here would be very helpful

Calahonda52

So the movement is below the tiles and above the ceiling?

there is no sign of any movement at the tiles, causing leaks etc?
.
Is it at the end of the house and tied into a gable wall?
.
How much of the chimney is moving?
.
Is it in effect flexing, without any sign of any cracking?
.
I fitted one of these in my own house, maybe not the exact model but same lego like idea.
I had it close to a gable wall so what I did was got a steel U shaped strap: 6mm thick, 150 wide, with fixing lugs on each side and used a pair of 12 mm coach screws to fix to the gable block-work on each side in the attic.
It was fitted as high up as possible in the roof space
.
If the chimney is stand alone in the roof space and you have access to all four sides you might consider lengths of steel angle on all four corners strapped like the TV aerials used to be on chimneys.
I would not drill the chimney, you could bed the steel in resin or epoxy to hold it in place.
.
All of the about is based on the assumption that the structural integrity of neither the house or chimney are compromised by the movement

Mrgg

Calahonda52 wrote: »

So the movement is below the tiles and above the ceiling?

there is no sign of any movement at the tiles, causing leaks etc?
.
Is it at the end of the house and tied into a gable wall?
.
How much of the chimney is moving?
.
Is it in effect flexing, without any sign of any cracking?
.
I fitted one of these in my own house, maybe not the exact model but same lego like idea.
I had it close to a gable wall so what I did was got a steel U shaped strap: 6mm thick, 150 wide, with fixing lugs on each side and used a pair of 12 mm coach screws to fix to the gable block-work on each side in the attic.
It was fitted as high up as possible in the roof space
.
If the chimney is stand alone in the roof space and you have access to all four sides you might consider lengths of steel angle on all four corners strapped like the TV aerials used to be on chimneys.
I would not drill the chimney, you could bed the steel in resin or epoxy to hold it in place.
.
All of the about is based on the assumption that the structural integrity of neither the house or chimney are compromised by the movement

Thanks for getting back to me.

It's difficult to tell, it seems like there is flexing in the whole structure. No signs of damage like cracking etc

It's tied to the gable wall, unfortunately only have access to 3 sides in the attic as too close to wall.

Calahonda52

Mrgg wrote: »

Thanks for getting back to me.

It's difficult to tell, it seems like there is flexing in the whole structure. No signs of damage like cracking etc

It's tied to the gable wall, unfortunately only have access to 3 sides in the attic as too close to wall.

Sorry am all out of ideas here?

BryanF

If block work is moving 1’’ in the wind you need a Structural engineer

Mrgg

Sorry to dig up old post, would anyone have a recommendation for structural engineer in South East that would be able to advise on the above issue?