How messy IS removing internal chimney breasts?

cjb · 1 Dec 2004

We have our hall, landing & stairs decorated and carpeted... if we have a chimney breast removed from upstairs and downstairs, are we going to have to redecorate?

The builders are telling me how messy it will be but has anyone got any first hand experience, and or tips on how to reduce mess?

Thanks

pieman · 1 Dec 2004

You do like grit in your dinner, don't you?

If you can seal the room(s) where the chimney is with plastic sheet and tape,including over the doors, and take the rubble say straight out a window, and keep the door taped shut while the work is going on, then it shouldn't be too bad.

If you have to remove the rubble through your newly decorated spaces, then plastic sheet and cardboard protection on the floor, rollup carpets if possible, and plastic sheet over all furniture.

Vac down all plastic sheet on furniture before you carefully fold sheets in on themselves.

Vac walls with a soft brush attachment.

Vac furniture and carpets again after removing sheets.

That should be ok.

On the replastering front, just see what you end up with. obviously, if you're having to plaster where the chimney was, then skimming any nearby cracks make sense, but you could just fine filler...

trowelhead · 1 Dec 2004

pieman has it spot on!
unless you can isolate(and i do mean isolate) the rooms the chimney goes through you will be eating soot,grit and shiite for months!

JerryD · 1 Dec 2004

That's what's great about being a builder, at the end of the day jump in the van and head for your nice clean shiny dust free house, leaving the customer eating grit

wreckedit · 2 Dec 2004

I have just recently taken one out and it was very satisfying to see the room open out. As the bricks came down my partner put them in a large square plastic container and carried them out to a wheel barrow. Had to hire a medium sized electric hammer (about £30) for the day so I only got one blister. It is also very important to get yourself some good face masks because of the dust. As the bricks and plaster came down I dampened the lot down with a garden spray and with a full open nozel sprayed it up the chimney to stop the soot spreading. Somebody doing this for you is worth while. The wall turned out to be very uneven afterwards so I batterned and plasterboarded it. Have fun!!!!!

cjb · 2 Dec 2004

Thank you very much everyone, that's really useful.

We originally planned on taking out the chimney from ground floor to loft, but it seems there are complications so we are now considering only taking the breast out from downstairs - if that's the case, we can seal off the morning room & kitchen completely from the rest of the house, and the mess can be taken straight out of the back door... I know some will come through the upstairs but it should be kept to a minimum. If we do take the breast out from upstairs as well then I can see myself being driven completely mad with the mess

(but it should be worth it

)

Rich - as much as my hubby would love to do it himself, we'll be getting a builder to do the work... we are completely removing the chimney breast and also taking out what would the back wall & will need steels put in etc... my hubby is very enthusiastic but slightly gung-ho - I don't think I could plan on the house staying up if he did it himself

JDLDIY · 15 Dec 2004

One of the worst mistakes I ever made was not to get a chimney cleaned before removal. The brick dust isn't a problem so much, it's the soot, which gets everywhere as it carries easily. Cover all your loft surfaces too if you want to use it for storage.

cjb · 15 Dec 2004

That's not a bad suggestion JDLDIY - I hadn't even thought of that.

I'll have to investigate costs - thanks.

Tom. · 15 Dec 2004

To get a chimney cleaned should be no more than £50, and thats what I paid for 2

hancockp · 30 Dec 2004

Don't forget to tell the council about taking them out as it will come under building control for the size of the steels etc and possibly may be under the party wall act. Some councils require RSJ's to hold up the top of the chimney in the loft (unless you ar taking it out completely), but some allow other types of brackets. Best check with them. I didn't and got them round halfway through, luckily they were fine and gave some good advice, the fee I think was just under a £100 but worth it if you plan to sell your house at some point.

I did mine last year and it made a real mess and I'm still in the process of putting the house back together, but I must admit it affected every room in the house, but is definately worth it.

If you are going to get the wall plastered where the chimney comes out then it's best to put a layer of sand and cement on it first as this will stop the soot coming through the plaster and eventually your decoration.

Protect whatever you can with plastic bags and stuff, but unless the room/rooms are well sealed you are in for a gritty time and things will get broken or destroyed.

Have fun.

Pete

JDLDIY · 30 Dec 2004

If you are going to get the wall plastered where the chimney comes out then it's best to put a layer of sand and cement on it first as this will stop the soot coming through the plaster and eventually your decoration

I was advised to give the sooty bricks and mortar a coating of mildly diluted pva to seal in the soot dust. I actually gave it a couple of coats! Seems to work well, it looks really dirty but wipe your finger across it and it is well sealed up.

cjb · 25 Jan 2005

Thanks for your advise guys.. Works start on Monday, we've been in the process of emptying the house over the last few weeks.. we're taking the chimney out from the stack to the ground, knocking two rooms into one downstairs, so I guess it will be rather messy

JDLDIY & Tom - can't thank you enough for your chimney sweeping tip - had it done today - what a pile of junk there was up there

3+ bags of filthy soot - yeuk... can't believe that rubbish would have gone all over my house had I not posted on here.

Thanks again, I'll keep you posted of how things go!

macadonald · 11 Aug 2011

Guys,

About to do this myself. Out of interest and in addition to all the useful posts on here. Someone once told me that a big industrial fan in the window of the sealed room where the work is taking place will make a massive difference. If anything it stops the dust leaving the room. Doesn't really have an option, even if there are gaps under doors etc?

Any thoughts?

diynot

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How messy IS removing internal chimney breasts?

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