Structural Chimney advice

[rich65]

Hi All,
This is my first post on here and I would be grateful for some advice.
I bought my house approx a year ago and have been working through a list of jobs one of which is repointing the chimney which is within my capabilities however I put up a tower scaffold today to get access and on closer inspection the mortar around the pot and the 2 courses down is shot and these would need relaying, the mortar in the rest of the stack (approx 2.2 meters high) is badly eroded, but my big concern is that there is some movement (5-10mm) of the whole stack when pushing not that hard at the top, this is in any direction.

Am I correct in thinking that no amount of repointing will make a good repair and the best solution would be to either rebuild or remove and if it is to be rebuilt then it would have to be taken down to a level below the roof line where the stack emerges from the wall?

This is not a job I would consider taking on myself but I am happy that I could remove the stack to below the roof line patch the felt and fit new tiles, no part of the roof structure is resting on the chimney brickwork.

I was originally thinking of putting in a solid fuel stove/burner and therefore the chimney would be vital but faced with the costs of a rebuild on top of the installation and maintenance costs I cannot justify this, can anyone advise on my questions above and are there any pro's and cons I may not have thought of so far.

Many thanks for any replies,

Rich

 

[studips]

well, if the stack is 'live' that is to say moving, then pointing will probably help a smidge, but it would indicate that mortar joints have failed right through - and pointing 10/15mm around the outside is nothing like relaying.

i haven't a clue whether removing the stack to below the tiles and rendering the flue blocked (or worse venting into the loft) is something building control would want to know about, but i'd guess it is.

potentially someone in the future may try and use that flue (yes, they'd have to be pretty incompetent not to notice the flue vents into the loft).

 

[^woody^]

Chimneys do get a fair bit of weathering, but the main cause of degrading of the mortar in old [unlined] chimneys is acid attack of the cement in mortar from the flue gases.

So normally, repointing wont help at all

If you are going to rebuild, then dropping a liner down for the solid fuel appliance at that time wont cost much more apart from the cost of the liner