In removing a chimney breast (on ground floor) and in fixing cantilever brackets to support three floor breasts above, a steel joist, lin. in depth for each foot of span, should be fixed parallel to the wall, as shown by Fig. 1, with a strong 4-in. flag on the top under the breast; or two similar joists should be fixed at right angles to the wall and carried across the room as shown by Fig. 2, with a similar flag carrying the breast. The latter method would be the safer, but it necessitates two beams instead of one.

Fig. 1.

Fig. 2. Underpinning a Chimney Breast.