Chimneys and parapets
The fireplace is gone and the stack still stands above the roof. What support for that stack was not seen in the rooms below?
What was not seen is the support that now carries the stack through the rooms below. The fireplace is gone, so the breast and hearth that once made the support obvious were not there to inspect. Whatever remains, whether a narrowed breast, a beam, brackets or nothing adequate, was not visible. The stack still standing above the roof is not proof those supports are sound. The survey has recorded a stack without its fireplace. It has not calculated the load, has not opened the ceilings, and has not said the stack is safely carried.
Last reviewed 24 October 2026. Written for buyers in England and Wales unless this answer says otherwise. No named surveyor has signed this page. It is general guidance, not a report on your house, and not legal advice.
What is the fuller explanation?
A chimney stack is a heavy pier of masonry. It is meant to come down on a breast that continues through the house. When a fireplace is removed, that path is sometimes properly gathered onto a beam, and sometimes it is simply cut off with the stack left sitting on ceiling joists or on a thin bit of remaining brick. The rooms below are where that detail would show. They did not show it. It does not tell you what holds it.
A structural carpenter or engineer can open or trace the support and say whether the stack is properly carried. Tell the solicitor the home survey did not see that support and has not approved the removal. The survey has not specified a beam and has not said the stack must come down. Do not assume the seller's plaster finish is the support. Until the carrying detail is seen, the stack above the roof remains an incomplete note, however straight it looks against the sky.
What should you ask your surveyor?
- What, if anything, could you see carrying the stack in the rooms below?
- Was the breast removed entirely, or only the fireplace opening?
- Have you left the adequacy of the support untested?
What are the typical next steps?
- Treat the stack support below as unseen, not as adequate.
- Ask a structural carpenter to trace what now carries the stack.
- Do not take a standing stack as proof the fireplace removal was properly supported.
Costs vary with the building and with who you instruct. Where this page does not cite a published figure, ask the surveyor, a relevant specialist, or your solicitor for a written quote. Do not treat a forum average as the price.
Also asked about this
If a steel is visible in one room, is the whole stack supported?
Only that visible steel was seen, and only in that room. The survey has not followed the stack through every floor. One beam does not confirm the support where the ceilings stayed closed. The home survey itself did not pursue this steelbeam question any further than the visit.
Does a rebuilt chimney pot show the support was renewed too?
No. Pots and flaunching are the top of the stack. They do not show what carries the masonry in the rooms below. The survey still has not seen that support. No later decision about the potwork was made, and this visit did not supply one.