Weeds around chimney stack

Ozzuk

After a bit of advice on a property I'm looking to buy. It needs a lot of work, has been empty a few months - overall in good condition structurally (though I'm no engineer).

I'm pretty experienced in doing up houses, rarely have a full survey (will be this time if I proceed) and I'm confident I can handle most of the work in this house but I am concerned about the chimney. It looks like there are a lot of weeds growing out of the pointing (not the chimney itself.

Trouble is, its very high up (3 stories) and on a very sloping driveway (I have no pictures). I think its likely beyond my skill area - anyone have any ideas on cost to fix? I'm thinking £1200 as a budget figure and I'm assuming scaffolding would be required.

ljonski

how about a drone with a weed sprayer?

Ozzuk

that is certainly thinking outside the box! I'm assuming re-pointing required.

DTDfanBoy

ljonski wrote: »

how about a drone with a weed sprayer?

Or if you're on a budget some water balloons filled with glyphosate

DaftyDuck

Scaffolding may well be the biggest cost here. I budget around £500 per chimney for scaffolding, and normally see some change from that. Very sloping driveway, additional height, might see that nearly doubled. Repointing would be quite cheap on top of that (say £300 if lucky). However, work out EVERYTHING you need to do up high before starting. Chimney liner? Lead flashing? TV aerial? Rescue ljonsk's drone? Repair to tiling and any fascia/soffit work? The lot.

As soon as the scaffold is down, you'll realise (like I did) how much easier the fan grille for the ensuite would have been fitted if the scaffold were still about!

Ozzuk

DaftyDuck wrote: »

Scaffolding may well be the biggest cost here. I budget around £500 per chimney for scaffolding, and normally see some change from that. Very sloping driveway, additional height, might see that nearly doubled. Repointing would be quite cheap on top of that (say £300 if lucky). However, work out EVERYTHING you need to do up high before starting. Chimney liner? Lead flashing? TV aerial? Rescue ljonsk's drone? Repair to tiling and any fascia/soffit work? The lot.

As soon as the scaffold is down, you'll realise (like I did) how much easier the fan grille for the ensuite would have been fitted if the scaffold were still about!

That is a really good point (additional work) as the side could do with painting. Thanks!

brightontraveller

Really depends on access what parts/sides need repointing, other works etc cheapest would likely be hire ladder and roof ladder, hire tower scaffold, a cherry picker some come with drivers some don’t costs do vary per day, geo location, demand in area etc lastly traditional scaffold, cherry picker or traditional scaffold which would be better cheapest is down to amount of works needed…

ed110220

If you're having scaffolding up, it might be an idea to remove the chimney altogether unless it's actually useful.