Knocking into a dual chimney?

[Anonymous]

Hope I've got the terminology correct when I say dual (adjoining?) chimney. i.e. We have 2 separate rooms, dining room and kitchen. Both rooms have a chimney breast in the middle where the dividing wall is. The chimney is open in the dining room producing a lovely fireplace (open but not in use) and the one in the kitchen is closed off. My question is this.. If I want to have a range cooker installed in the kitchen, could I (or some more competent DIYer) knock through the chimney breast in the kitchen to have two open spaces and place a cooker range in the space provided? I think I know the answer is probably yes, but I'm just worried of any implications. Obviously a lintel would have to be put in.
TIA,
Mike.

 

[Anonymous]

I presume your house is not listed, and LBC is therefore not an issue?
This being the case, there is no technical reason why you couldn't do this, but you need to take great care about ensuring the stability of the structure if you're going to create a full-depth opening in it big enough for a range cooker. You'll need to make sure that the fire opening on the dining room side is solidly blocked up, and ensure that there are lintels across the central dividing wall of the chimney, and the enlarged opening on the kitchen side. I would strongly suggest that you spend a few pounds on a structural engineer's advice, just to ensure that the structure of the chimney is strong enough to take this fairly extensive surgery.

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for your reply David. The house is not listed and is a 1920's semi. I'll take up your advice and consult a structural engineer.
Thanks,
Mike.

 

[Anonymous]

Consider too the practical aspects of this - steam can cause damp in the chimney so ventilation is an issue, the lintel will need to be high enough to allow cooking without head banging, and somewhere to move hot pans at the side of a cooker is a good idea. An isolated cooker isn't very practical.

Lifting pans of boiling veg to a sink for draining needs consideration - how far away is it? Accidents can happen...