Rear extension
Rear extension, Tadley
Groundwork, blockwork and matched brickwork for a rear extension in Tadley, taken from a bare garden to a weathertight shell.
Structural · Tadley
Structural alterations in Tadley
Taking walls out, putting steel in, and making sure what is left is holding the house up.
Structural alterations in Tadley
What the job usually looks like here.
Chimney breasts are the Tadley job people ask about most. The housing here was built for solid fuel and a great many properties still carry a breast through both floors and into the loft, eating a metre of every room it passes through for a flue nobody has used since the seventies. Taking one out is not a demolition job — whatever is above it has to be caught and supported, usually on gallows brackets or a beam, and it needs an engineer and building control the same as any other opening.
The reason chimney work comes up so often here is what it buys. Losing a breast in the lounge, the bedroom above and the loft gives back the better part of a square metre on each floor plus a usable wall in all three rooms, on houses where the plan is tight to begin with. The stack above the roofline can stay and be supported, or come off and be roofed over — cheaper, but it changes the elevation, and on a terrace it changes your neighbours' too.
What we cover
- Load-bearing wall removal
- Steel beam design, supply and installation
- Structural engineer’s calculations
- Temporary propping and needling
- Padstones, bearings and fire protection to the steel
- Chimney breast removal and support
Covering
Tadley (RG26) and Baughurst, Pamber Heath, Silchester, Bramley, Kingsclere.
5 minutes from the yard.
More on building in Tadley
The housing stock, the council, the postcodes we cover and the villages around Tadley.
Our work
A recent job in Tadley.
Structural alterations in Tadley — get a price.
Ring us or send a few lines about the job and we will come out and look at it. 5 minutes from the yard.
Can I remove the chimney breast without taking the whole stack down?
Yes, and it is the usual answer. What is left above is supported on gallows brackets or a beam, designed by the engineer for the actual weight rather than by rule of thumb. If the stack is shared with next door it is also a party wall matter and the notices need serving properly.
How much mess is a chimney breast removal?
A lot for two or three days, and we plan for it. The breast comes out from the top down, the debris goes out through a protected route rather than through the house, and everything is sheeted and swept at the end of each day. It is dirty work compressed into a short window rather than spread over a fortnight.
Get in touch
Structural alterations in Tadley.
Tell us what you are planning and we will come out, look at the property and put a written quote together with the costs set out.
Tell us about the job
Six quick fields. We answer every enquiry ourselves.