chimney/ bloody chimney.

[morethanpotatoprints]

Just been quoted 1k to take down our chimney.
Firstly, was wondering if anybody thought this was a good deal?
It would include slates, taking down, disposing of bricks and making good. This would include scaffolding and skip hire too.

Secondly, the reason for taking chimney down is water coming through. It has been serviced by several people who have done flashing re pointing etc and builder said the only thing to fix the leaking is to take it down. Just wondered if anybody could verify this for me.
TIA.

I was quoted about 800 for the same, so doesn't sound wildly out. I think it's a bigger job than it looks. Whether it needs taking down or not I guess depends on where the water is coming in!

An obvious one - do you have a hat on the chimney pot?

We had a chimney taken down a few years ago and paid about £850, although we didn't need a skip.

Are you sure you or a future inhabitant won't need the chimney in future, eg for venting a gas fire?

I think it is a good idea. You need a good roofer, but once done it will reduce the need for future maintenance, and the probability of leaks.

If some future buyer wants the chimney back again, they can rebuild it.

What is the difference between capping it and taking it down?

What sort of property do you have, and is the chimney still usable? Lots of people are putting woodburners in at the moment so it might be a problem for potential buyers in the future. Getting a chimney rebuilt is a big job and would put people (or at any rate me) off.

We're having our chimney repointed and the top 3 runs rebuilt as they were crumbling and the whole lot repainted and it's costing us £1550 - a lot of which was the cost of scaffolding the whole thing as it's a very tall chimney. Water was coming in through the brickwork and soaking into the walls below.

capping it is cheap - the "hat" only costs about £40, but it might not fix the problem! If the water is coming through an open pot it might, but if it's through the mortar/stone/brick/flashings etc then it won't work.

We had to have a tonne of remedial work done on our chimney: partial rebuilding, repointing, reflashing, lining. It cost us about £2k. Worth it to us, but if you're not interested in a working fireplace, then £1k doesn't sound a bad price for removal.

taking it down (usually) means removing all the brickwork off the roof, and down into the loft, then building the roof back across the hole.

It means the roof needs much less maintenance and is much less likely to leak.

The chimney will also not fall down in high winds.

Thanks for all the responses.
It is a 1920's semi and the bricks are red, the porous type, forget what they're called no.
It has been capped pointed and flashing done.
Water comes in and covers a small patch on ceiling and top of the wall over the picture rail. We have coving and believe it is under here too.
It isn't a lot but has stained the walls and obviously don't want a damp room.

Piglet, the roofer said the same about having it taken down and no more maintenance, he seemed a legit bloke and was recommended so guess it sounds fair now I've had a second opinion.
Our other chimney started to fall in the frost 3 years ago on Christmas day. We had fire engines, road closed off and a cherry picker to enable them to take it down brick by brick.
We told dd that father Christmas broke it, he was so fat. So yes, I guess taking it down seems the best option.

Many thanks to you all again.

It would save the future maintenance and is probably worth it in the long run - as long as you will never use the chimney again. We have a completely redundant stack over our kitchen/bathroom (chimney breast has been removed internally) that I would like to remove but can't afford to at present. When I can I'll have it taken down as we've had loads of problems with next door's chimney leaking in to our house. I'd just rather it was gone.