Any tips on dealing with obsolete chimney breasts?

[stuart45]

To ensure that a flying chimney breast was properly supported, surely floors would need to be lifted, or ceilings poked holes in; would a surveyor do that for a Level 3?

It's a non invasive survey, so a surveyor can only do visual checks.

 

[RachelMerrywinkle]

It's a non invasive survey, so a surveyor can only do visual checks.

He used a metal detector to see if there were steels present- is there a type of support that wouldn’t involve steels that he could have missed?

 

[stuart45]

He used a metal detector to see if there were steels present- is there a type of support that wouldn’t involve steels that he could have missed?

There was a method used years ago known as corbelling. I've done it on a few jobs in the past. It involved cutting into the party wall about 4 inches. You then built a header course out about a couple of inches from the face. The next course came out another couple of inches, Eventually the brickwork came out enough to support the chimney. This method is not really used nowadays. Even gallows brackets are not accepted like they used to be.
Here's an example of how chimney breasts were sometimes even built starting from an upper floor.

 

[RachelMerrywinkle]

There was a method used years ago known as corbelling. I've done it on a few jobs in the past. It involved cutting into the party wall about 4 inches. You then built a header course out about a couple of inches from the face. The next course came out another couple of inches, Eventually the brickwork came out enough to support the chimney. This method is not really used nowadays. Even gallows brackets are not accepted like they used to be.
Here's an example of how chimney breasts were sometimes even built starting from an upper floor.
View attachment 18711

This is fantastic information thank you. Would this corbelling method apply even to an end wall (we are an end of Terrance and chimneys are on the outside wall, not party wall)?

 

[stuart45]

It depends how thick the wall is. You shouldn't really corbell out further than the thickness of the wall. So if it's a 9 inch wall you can come out 9 inches.