Getting rid of a chimney

GingeG

Anyone know how much of a job this is? I wanna lose a chimney and do an attic conversion but attic hass huge chimney right up middle of house going through it. All the od Fires have been blocked off and plasterboarded over etc but I know it cant just be knocked down any ideas??

StephenB_2

We've been here before, see http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=95110.

SJB

Tom_Jones

It's not a complicated job, you would need to have proper safe scaffolding erected at the roof level around the chimney then you start at the top and remove the bricks course by course, once you are below roof level the roof would need to be framed in and tiled, then you can take the remaining part of the chimney down from the inside to the level that you require.

Check with a good builder first though.

robowen

I've gone from the bottom up...:think:
I originally wanted only the downstairs chimney out....so, secured a steel lintel inbetween floors to support above.
Upstair chimney came next a couple of years later. Its a small chimney...about 19" wide.
I've now stopped in the loft and supported the upper part of the chimney with 2 steel gallows brackets and a small steel plate.....as per BS*&%$ whatever it was

Yours sounds like a big job.
You wont believe how many bricks come out from the chimney. :eek:
Its not a technically difficult job...more labour intensive.

I wasn't able to get the bricks out of the house through an opening or window.
Every brick had to be bagged and carried down the stairs...so as not to dust up the rest of the house.

Best piece of advice I can give.......Get a decent dust mask ! A proper one !
Good luck.

rob

Malestrom

Agree with robowen, its a very, very messy job. We had someone take ours down in the conventional way (top to bottom) and it took just over half a day for two of them and only cost £150 plus skip hire. Our house was built in 1975 so it wasn't one of those giant victorian chimneys, it was only about 20" wide but it still filled a large skip. They also did it without scaffolding even though I was happy to pay for it, apparently he wasn't on the roof long enough to warrant it (his words, not HSE's!!).