Central Heating

Bought 1930s flat, but only now seen a huge hole in external wall of kitchen - best repair option?

Anonymous user 28/02/2024 - 3.36 PM

We bought a 1930s ground-floor flat and moved in last week. The kitchen is a tiny, fully tiled (design seems to be from the 80s?) kitchenette which the previous owner had a new boiler installed into. The new boiler seems to have required a new flue, and around the pipework the tiles have been smashed/cut, but not repaired afterwards, so there is a horrible cobwebbed hole there. I then discovered a huge circular hole in the external wall, a foot or so below the new flue part that expels the steam outside. So, this hole might be where the old flue part was fitted. The hole is so big I can see inside to what looks a foot-wide gap between the external wall and the internal wall. Now, under the boiler is the sink, and the cupboard under the sink has huge holes in its rear where the pipework fits. I can see through those holes about a foot back into a cavity, only, I can see a blue-coloured wall therein. My questions are: 1. What kind of handyman/specialist do I require to assess the work that needs done? 2. Is our kitchen built on the proper walls, or were fake walls erected a foot inside the original walls? (Not sure why that would have been necessary.) 3. Is there a damp risk? Thanks for taking time to read this! Hopefully someone can help... PS -- The boiler was inspected in October 2017 by a Gas Safe engineer, so I know that there are no gas-safety issues. My questions relate to getting the shoddy workmanship fixed, confirming whether there is a risk of damp, and finding out whether, in the long run, we should remove the existing kitchen and refit a new one to the 'hidden walls' that are half a foot behind the visible walls.