Folks,

Thanks for all the comments. I am happy to know my limitations and accept
that this is not a DIY job - thanks for keeping me straight!

Greg
"Greg" wrote in message
. ..
I need some thoughts on removing a chimney breast in one of the bedrooms.
I
live in a semi-detached victorian house and the chimney breast in one of
the
bedrooms is "in the way". It is on the party wall and has been removed in
the room below (not checked to see how it is supported - just pray there
are
no big gusts of wind to find out the hard way...) From the bedroom it goes
into the attic and then out (nothing radical there then). The plan would
be
to remove the breast in the bedroom, but not remove it from the attic etc.

Questions:
1. What are the building regs that need to be taken into account?
2. I figure I could use a structural steel beam to support the weight of
the
chimney in the attic (where do I get these from and are they expensive?)
and
simply lay this across the joists with the brickwork resting upon it. Are
there alternatives to this (have seen some reference to "stress graded
timbers, two 6" by 3" for each chimney")?
3. Do I need to do anything special with the area where the hearth was
other
than simply extend the joists and put in new floorboards?
4. What about the impact on the neighbours side (not planning to touch
that...)
5. How would I know if I damage the neighbours flue (is this as obvious as
knocking a brick out and cursing?)
6. Anything else I might want to consider before I undertake this and is
it
as simple as it seems?

One other thing....it looks like I may need to notify the neighbour given
that it is a party wall. Only problem is that it is all boarded up at the
moment as the previous tennants were evicted. I think a housing
association
manages it. What do we do in that situation?

Thanks
Greg