I am buying a house that has a chimney that has been installed without proper planning permission. The house is two-storey and approximately 70 years old, and had a single story, flat roof extension built onto it around 10 years ago.
The extension, which is now the living room, has a wood-burning stove in the middle of it and a chimney that comes straight up and terminates at the level of the upstairs windows ( chimney marked with blue cross). Regulations say that the chimney needs to come to the height of our, and our neighbours, roofs (which makes sense) and I have had some builders in to have a look, and they are suggesting that we leave the stove where it is and build a chimney with a diagonal section that runs to the wall of the main house (approx 2.5/3 meters) and then rises to the required height.
I have some doubts about having a chimney with such a large diagonal/horizontal section, as I am not only afraid that it won't actually work very well, but that it will be subject to stress (wind, etc.) and will just be another thing to repair in a few years.
The only other option I can see is to move the stove to the corner of the extension and install a new chimney that goes straight up against the wall of the main house. However, this is obviously an expensive solution.
Could we extend the height of the existing chimney? How high can a free standing chimney be?
I'm all ears and would appreciate any input, thanks!
The extension, which is now the living room, has a wood-burning stove in the middle of it and a chimney that comes straight up and terminates at the level of the upstairs windows ( chimney marked with blue cross). Regulations say that the chimney needs to come to the height of our, and our neighbours, roofs (which makes sense) and I have had some builders in to have a look, and they are suggesting that we leave the stove where it is and build a chimney with a diagonal section that runs to the wall of the main house (approx 2.5/3 meters) and then rises to the required height.
I have some doubts about having a chimney with such a large diagonal/horizontal section, as I am not only afraid that it won't actually work very well, but that it will be subject to stress (wind, etc.) and will just be another thing to repair in a few years.
The only other option I can see is to move the stove to the corner of the extension and install a new chimney that goes straight up against the wall of the main house. However, this is obviously an expensive solution.
Could we extend the height of the existing chimney? How high can a free standing chimney be?
I'm all ears and would appreciate any input, thanks!
