For homeowners in Eriswell with an unused chimney stack to remove, here is a clear account of exactly how a professional chimney take-down is carried out, from the initial assessment to the moment we leave your property.
Call any time. Calls are answered day and night and passed straight to our roofers.
Every chimney take-down starts with a proper look at the stack before any work is planned or priced. This is not a formality - the condition of the brickwork, the profile of the surrounding roof, and the type of tiles already in place all affect how the job is done and what materials are needed.
The assessment needs to happen from roof level, not just from the ground. A roofer looking up from the garden can spot obvious problems - a leaning pot, heavy staining, visible mortar loss - but the condition of the flashing, the state of the brickwork just below the cap, and the tile courses around the base of the stack can only be properly checked close up.
At this point, we are looking at several specific things: the height of the stack above the roof, the number of pots, the type and condition of the flaunching, the state of the lead flashing at the base, the pitch and tile type of the roof, and whether there are any signs that water has already been entering around the stack. All of this informs the scope of the job.
Before any brickwork is touched, the access needs to be set up properly. For most houses, this means erecting scaffolding or using a scaffold tower. Chimney work at height is not a job for a ladder alone. The stack needs to be accessible from multiple sides so that bricks can be lowered safely rather than dropped, and the roofer needs a stable working platform throughout.
Protecting the roof tiles and the area below is part of the set-up. A sheet or board on the roof below the working area catches any debris and protects the tiles from damage. On the ground, the area around the base of the chimney needs to be kept clear, particularly if there is a conservatory, extension roof or greenhouse nearby.
The actual demolition starts at the top. The chimney pots come off first. Pots are heavy - a standard terracotta pot can weigh 15 kg or more - and they need to be lowered rather than thrown. If the homeowner wants to keep the pots, they can be set aside at this stage.
The flaunching - the cement mortar bed that holds the pots - is broken away next. Then the brickwork is taken down course by course. Each brick is removed individually and lowered to ground level. Dropping rubble onto the roof risks cracking tiles and blocking gutters with debris, so bricks are handled carefully throughout.
The target height for the finished stack is just below the roof line. Enough brickwork is removed so that nothing protrudes above the tile surface. The remaining brickwork inside the roof space is left in place - removing it would involve opening up ceilings and disrupting the chimney breast below, which is a separate and much larger piece of work.
With the brickwork cut down to the right level, attention turns to the gap where the chimney passed through the roof structure. This opening now needs to be made permanently weathertight.
The tile courses immediately around the old chimney opening are lifted back carefully. The roofing felt underneath, if present and in reasonable condition, is checked and trimmed neatly around the opening. If the felt is damaged or absent in that area, it is repaired or extended at this stage before any tile work goes back.
The rafters or roof timbers around the opening are also checked. If water has been getting in around the old stack for some time, there can be softening or early-stage rot in the timbers closest to the old flashing line. Any affected timber needs to be addressed before the roof is closed up - discovering rot after the fact, once the tiles are back on, means opening the roof up again.
The lead slate is the central weatherproofing element of any chimney take-down. It is a flat piece of lead - or a lead-faced unit - sized to sit across the opening and overlap the tile courses on all sides. The lead is dressed (worked by hand) into the correct shape to lie flat against the roof pitch and form a continuous, joint-free seal over the hole.
Proper lead dressing takes time. The lead needs to be turned under the tiles above, lapped over the tiles below, and fitted without tension that could cause it to lift later. Lead that has been rushed or forced into position will move over time as the roof structure flexes with temperature change, and the seal will eventually fail.
The finished lead slate should lie flat and invisible within the tile surface when the surrounding tiles are back in place. There should be no raised edges, no sealant beads and no visible fixings.
The tile courses disturbed during the take-down are relaid once the lead slate is in position. Where tiles have been cut or broken during the removal, they are replaced. The aim is to match the existing tiles as closely as possible - the same profile, the same approximate colour - so that the finished patch blends into the surrounding roof surface.
This is where sourcing matters. Concrete tiles are manufactured to standard profiles, so profile matching is usually achievable. Colour matching on a weathered roof is harder, because tiles fade over time and new tiles will look noticeably lighter for a period until they weather in. We are straightforward about this: if there will be a visible colour difference, we say so before the job starts rather than after.
On older roofs with clay plain tiles or natural slate, reclaimed materials often give the best match. A reclamation yard tile that is already weathered will blend far better than a new tile of the same type.
Once the tile work is finished and the lead slate is checked, the roof below the working area is cleared of any debris. Gutters are checked and cleared of any brick dust or mortar fragments that have dropped in during the work. The scaffold or tower comes down and all the brickwork rubble - the pots, the flaunching, the broken-down stack - is loaded and taken away from site.
A good chimney take-down leaves no visible trace other than the neat, weathertight patch where the stack used to be. There should be no mortar splashes on the tiles, no rubble left in the gutters, and nothing left behind on the ground.
The time a single chimney take-down takes depends on the height of the stack and the condition of the surrounding roof covering. A larger double stack or one where additional timber repairs are needed will take longer.
We carry out chimney take-downs for homeowners in Eriswell and the surrounding area, based in Brandon. If you have an unused stack that needs removing, call us to arrange a proper assessment at roof level. We will tell you exactly what the job involves before any work begins.
No obligation · We'll call you to arrange a free visit
Call any time. Calls are answered day and night and passed straight to our roofers.
