If you are considering having a chimney stack taken down at your Holt property, here is exactly what the job involves, in the order it happens, so you know what to expect before anyone gets on your roof.
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Before any work is priced or planned, the chimney needs to be looked at properly. A ground-level assessment tells you something, but a close inspection at roof level tells you much more. The condition of the mortar joints, the state of the flashing, whether any bricks have moved, and whether water has already tracked into the roof structure below are all details that can only be established by someone physically up there.
On this first visit, we are also looking at the roof around the stack, not just the stack itself. If the flashing has been failing for a while, the felt and timber in the immediate area may have taken in moisture. Discovering this now means it can be dealt with as part of the take-down job, rather than becoming a separate problem later.
The inspection also establishes how the stack was built and what is below it. Some chimneys run through the ceiling below with a breast and fireplace intact. Others have already had the fireplace removed and the ceiling made good. This affects how far down the take-down will go and what finishing work is needed internally.
A chimney take-down is not a job that can be done safely from a ladder. The work involves breaking out brickwork, which is heavy and unpredictable, and then carrying debris down from height. Proper scaffold access is needed, and on most domestic properties this means a scaffold tower or a section of tube-and-fitting scaffold erected around the chimney position.
The scaffold is sized to give safe working space around the stack and to allow debris to be lowered or passed down to ground level in a controlled way. Scaffold is typically erected and struck on the same day as the job itself if the stack is straightforward, or left in place for a day or two if the job is more involved. The scaffold cost is usually included in the overall price for the job rather than quoted separately, but it is worth confirming this when you receive a quote.
Before any bricks are removed, the area below the stack on the roof slope needs to be protected. Old sheets of ply or rigid board are laid over the tiles to prevent the falling debris from chipping or cracking them as the stack comes down. Any particularly vulnerable roof features nearby, such as a roof light or a dormer, are flagged before work starts and protected accordingly.
At ground level, the area below the chimney is cleared and, where practical, protected from dust and debris. Loose bricks and mortar falling from height carry significant energy even on a two-storey property, so this step is not something to skip.
The chimney pot and its haunching (the mortar bed it sits in) come off first. Pots are typically ceramic or terracotta and break easily under a hammer, so care is taken to bring them off cleanly. If the pots are in good condition and the owner wants to keep them, they can often be removed intact.
The brickwork of the stack is then broken out course by course, working down from the top. A hammer and bolster chisel are used to cut through mortar joints rather than through bricks where possible, to keep the debris manageable and reduce dust. Each course of bricks is passed or lowered down as it is removed rather than allowed to pile up on the roof.
The depth to which the stack is taken down depends on what was agreed at the quotation stage. The stack can be taken down to just below the roof line, leaving a small stub that can be lead-capped. This avoids the need to open up the ceiling below and is the most common approach. If the owner wants the chimney removed entirely, the stack is taken down to ceiling level and the internal breast is addressed separately, which is a more involved job.
Once the stack is down to the agreed level, the opening in the roof needs to be made structurally sound and watertight. The felt and battens that were disrupted by the stack's original installation are extended across the gap. A breathable underlay membrane is used in the new area rather than old-style bitumen felt, as it manages moisture far more effectively and does not become brittle over time.
New battens are fixed at the same gauge as the existing roof battens, so the replacement tiles sit at the correct pitch and align with the surrounding courses. Tiles are then laid and, where needed, cut to fit the edges of the opening. On a plain tile roof this is straightforward work. On a profiled concrete interlocking tile roof, the half-tile details at the edges require more thought.
The tile match is an important point. On a new estate roof with standard concrete tiles, sourcing matching tiles is simple. On an older property with clay plain tiles or natural slates, sourcing the right match takes more effort and is worth discussing with the roofer before the job starts.
If the stack is taken down to a stub above the roof line, the stub needs a lead cap to prevent rainwater entering the remaining flue. The cap is formed from sheet lead, dressed down over the cut top of the stack and tucked into the mortar joints on each side. Code 4 lead is the minimum appropriate specification for this detail, with Code 5 used where the cap area is larger.
Where the original step flashing and apron flashing are being removed entirely because the stack is gone, the roof is made good with tiles and felt only, and no lead work remains. Any old mortar from the flashing joints is raked out and the joints are repointed with fresh mortar to match the surrounding brickwork, if any of the original stack remains visible above the roof.
Chimney take-downs generate a surprising amount of rubble. A medium-sized stack can produce several hundred kilograms of brick and mortar. All of this needs to come off the roof and off the property. Old bricks, if in reasonable condition, can sometimes be salvaged and used elsewhere on the property or passed to a salvage yard. More typically, the debris goes into a skip or is loaded directly into a van for disposal.
The roof and surrounding area are swept down at the end of the job and gutters checked for debris. Mortar dust works its way into gutters during a job like this, and clearing it out prevents blockages later.
Before leaving the property, the finished work should be inspected at close range from the scaffold before it comes down. Once the scaffold is struck, close inspection is no longer straightforward. Check that the lead cap or lead work is dressed neatly and fully secured, that the new tile courses align with the existing roof, and that there are no lifted or misaligned tiles in the area surrounding the repair.
If any internal work was included, such as making good a ceiling or removing a chimney breast, this is checked at the same time. The customer should be invited to look at the finished work before the scaffold comes down if they wish to.
Fakenham Roofers carry out chimney take-downs on properties in Holt and nearby. Call us to arrange an initial inspection and we will walk you through the job and what it involves for your specific chimney before anything is agreed.
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Call any time. Calls are answered day and night and passed straight to our roofers.
