Hi all,
So in our 1930s semi, the chimney breasts had been removed from the rear of the house - on both floors. The owners at the time stated it was done before they bought the house in the 90s. The brickwork in the roof space and the stack are still there. The neighbours chimney breasts are still there too on their side. Pre purchase, our structural surveyor basically never commented on whether the chimney was supported enough - it was missed completely. Its took me 2 years since we bought it to realise (I feel stupid to have not noticed). Do i bother trying to go back to the surveyor for some sort of financial recompense? In hindsight it seems a really stupid obvious thing to miss - (they did go in the roof and commented on that but no comment on the brickwork in the roof being supported so they can't say it wasn't visible when theres a photo!)
Anyway, due to now a lack of trust of the first surveyor, I decided to get another engineer in from a completely different company to have a look. He basically said theres a piece of timber holding it up, which has sagged a bit but doesn't think theres much evidence to show its going to collapse. (But would there be anyway?!) Im still waiting on his report to state what should be done to remedy it. His verbal estimate was 5-6k to put right to meet building regs? Is this about right?
How does it work with getting building regs I've never had work like this done. Get a builder first? Then apply for building regs? The chimney stack is shared with next door so it can't be taken down unless it's agreed with them. (That wouldve been my easiest option had it not been shared). Do we need a party wall agreement with them to do this work?
So in our 1930s semi, the chimney breasts had been removed from the rear of the house - on both floors. The owners at the time stated it was done before they bought the house in the 90s. The brickwork in the roof space and the stack are still there. The neighbours chimney breasts are still there too on their side. Pre purchase, our structural surveyor basically never commented on whether the chimney was supported enough - it was missed completely. Its took me 2 years since we bought it to realise (I feel stupid to have not noticed). Do i bother trying to go back to the surveyor for some sort of financial recompense? In hindsight it seems a really stupid obvious thing to miss - (they did go in the roof and commented on that but no comment on the brickwork in the roof being supported so they can't say it wasn't visible when theres a photo!)
Anyway, due to now a lack of trust of the first surveyor, I decided to get another engineer in from a completely different company to have a look. He basically said theres a piece of timber holding it up, which has sagged a bit but doesn't think theres much evidence to show its going to collapse. (But would there be anyway?!) Im still waiting on his report to state what should be done to remedy it. His verbal estimate was 5-6k to put right to meet building regs? Is this about right?
How does it work with getting building regs I've never had work like this done. Get a builder first? Then apply for building regs? The chimney stack is shared with next door so it can't be taken down unless it's agreed with them. (That wouldve been my easiest option had it not been shared). Do we need a party wall agreement with them to do this work?