Chimney stack removal

[Beansbaked]

We’ve had a couple of builders and a structural engineer look at our chimney that is leaning slightly. One side has a few cracks and it’s been suggested that instead of relaying the top few bricks and repointing it’s better to remove the whole thing to below the roof.

I’m wondering if I would need planning permission for this? I’m confirming with the structural engineer that we don’t need his input but I’m wondering if removing the chimney stack would cause any issues with the bit I’ve circled in red on my photo. It looks quite important. Please excuse my questions if they are silly but I have no idea how to go about this. Also with it being, I think it’s called corbelled?, does that make it any more difficult to do?

 

[blup]

I assume the corbelling is to help tie in the inner face of the chimney breast, as it doesn’t appear to be a load bearing part of the roof. Rooves can lean quite a lot before becoming unsafe and it looks in good condition. Did your strucchie insist it was dangerous?

 

[Beansbaked]

I assume the corbelling is to help tie in the inner face of the chimney breast, as it doesn’t appear to be a load bearing part of the roof. Rooves can lean quite a lot before becoming unsafe and it looks in good condition. Did your strucchie insist it was dangerous?

Hi thanks for replying. He didn’t seem bothered in the slightest. He didn’t really look at the chimney from the front and I didn’t show him the photos of the cracks as I as too busy over reacting and pointing out every other little fault in my house. I’m waiting for a call back from him so I can ask if he will have a look at the photos and give me his opinion. He said they could check to see how much it’s leaning but when I mentioned I think it would be better to take it down instead of keep spending money on it (£1200 last year for the lead and top re cemented) he agreed. Hubby spoke to him a few days later and he said he had seen much worse, including our neighbours so if theirs falls we need to worry. That didn’t help my anxiety at all

 

[Mottie]

I removed the chimney from our ground floor up to the first floor landing and the chimney from the roof down to the first floor ceiling, fitted new tiles to the roof to cover the hole and just left the middle bit. It’s been there nearly 30 years now so you just removing yours to below the roof line should be no problem. Don’t light any fires though!

 

[Beansbaked]

I removed the chimney from our ground floor up to the first floor landing and the chimney from the roof down to the first floor ceiling, fitted new tiles to the roof to cover the hole and just left the middle bit. It’s been there nearly 30 years now so you just removing yours to below the roof line should be no problem. Don’t light any fires though!

View attachment 415016

Looks very nice, I love the colour! I’ve no interest in a fire. I spent years as a child worried ours would set the house a light and thankfully have a lovely new boiler.

Was yours corbelled into the wall also? I’m worried about the bricks at the top of the roof the ridge beam sits on. Will that be disturbed and cause issues?

 

[Mottie]

Looks very nice, I love the colour! I’ve no interest in a fire. I spent years as a child worried ours would set the house a light and thankfully have a lovely new boiler.

Was yours corbelled into the wall also? I’m worried about the bricks at the top of the roof the ridge beam sits on. Will that be disturbed and cause issues?

Wasn’t corbelled - just tied in. Couldn’t you just take a few courses off of yours and just cap it off with a couple of flagstones or even take it below the roofline and tile over it? I’m not a builder or a roofer by the way!

 

[Beansbaked]

Wasn’t corbelled - just tied in. Couldn’t you just take a few courses off of yours and just cap it off with a couple of flagstones or even take it below the roofline and tile over it? I’m not a builder or a roofer by the way!

I think taking it just below the roofline and tiling over it is what’s being suggested. Im
Just trying to understand what’s involved so there’s no nasty surprises

 

[Mottie]

I think taking it just below the roofline and tiling over it is what’s being suggested. Im
Just trying to understand what’s involved so there’s no nasty surprises

I think it’s a lot easier and safer removing just the top and leaving the bottom than doing it the other way round.

 

[catlad]

Spend your money on something else.

 

[Stuart981]

I would think twice before removing a functioning chimney. In a world where energy resources are becoming increasingly strained in makes sense to have a working chimney and a few bags of coal available for as a contingency.

 

[Beansbaked]

I think it’s a lot easier and safer removing just the top and leaving the bottom than doing it the other way round.

I wouldn’t want anything inside the house removing, I like the quirky shapes

 

[Beansbaked]

Spend your money on something else.

The top few layers need relaying and then rest repointing plus it’s leaning a little so if it was taken down all of the issues will be gone in one hit instead of it needing something else next year and so on

 

[Beansbaked]

I would think twice before removing a functioning chimney. In a world where energy resources are becoming increasingly strained in makes sense to have a working chimney and a few bags of coal available for as a contingency.

It’s blocked up downstairs and I definitely wouldn’t have a log burner installed ever. Plus I’m worried about it leaning

 

[Si_]

I can't see any cracks, just a few places where the pointing has crumbled away. That said, chimneys can be a pain - not from falling down, there's no possibility of it doing that short of a tornado strike - but from leaks and damp and the general maintenance they require. I had mine taken off when I had a new roof a few months ago. On of my stipulations was a 'protrusion-free roof' - no chimneys, no raised vents, no soil stacks, no aerials. Much cleaner.

 

[Beansbaked]

I can't see any cracks, just a few places where the pointing has crumbled away. That said, chimneys can be a pain - not from falling down, there's no possibility of it doing that short of a tornado strike - but from leaks and damp and the general maintenance they require. I had mine taken off when I had a new roof a few months ago. On of my stipulations was a 'protrusion-free roof' - no chimneys, no raised vents, no soil stacks, no aerials. Much cleaner.

I hadn’t thought of it as the mortar crumbling. I assumed it had cracked and moved and what’s why it’s leaning. You are probably right though as the top had a huge crack in it before we had it replaced last year so I wonder if water had run down it when it rained and caused the damage. That’s probably why the roofer said it was solid. We get no sun on that side of the house so it wouldn’t have dried quickly. In the winter if there’s a frost the paths can stay frozen for a couple of days at a time.

I like the idea of a stress free roof, I naively didn’t realise how much could go wrong until a couple of weeks ago when I started googling