Haverhill Roofers carries out chimney take-downs in Steeple Bumpstead and gives you a clear picture of your material choices before any work starts.
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Removing a redundant chimney stack is not simply a matter of knocking bricks off the roof. The stack has to come down carefully, course by course, so the surrounding tiles and the roof structure beneath are not damaged. Once the stack is gone, the gap in the roof needs to be properly framed, weatherproofed and tiled over. The material choices you make at that stage affect both how the finished roof looks and how it performs for years to come.
This page focuses on those material choices - what is available, what each option costs in broad terms, and where the honest trade-offs lie. There is no single right answer for every house, so understanding the options helps you have a more useful conversation with any roofer you invite to quote.
The first decision is what to use to close the gap left by the chimney. The aim is always to match the existing roof covering as closely as possible, both in material and in colour.
Many older properties have clay plain tiles. New clay tiles can be sourced from several manufacturers, but an exact colour match with tiles that have weathered over decades is rarely achievable with new stock. Reclaimed clay tiles are often the better choice for a close visual match, though they take more time to source and the unit cost is higher.
Clay tiles are durable and age naturally, but they are heavier than concrete alternatives and the roof structure needs to be sound enough to carry them without additional reinforcement.
Concrete tiles are more uniform in size and widely available, which makes sourcing a match for a modern concrete-tiled roof straightforward. They are generally cheaper than clay both to buy and to lay, because their larger format covers more area per tile. The downside is that concrete weathers differently from clay, and if the existing roof has an aged patina, new concrete tiles will stand out for several years until they weather in.
If the existing roof is natural slate, sourcing matching material requires care. Welsh slate, Spanish slate and reclaimed slate all have different surface textures and tonal ranges. A good roofer will try to match not just the colour but the thickness and riven texture of what is already on the roof. Using the wrong type of slate can make the patch very obvious, which matters if the chimney is visible from the street.
Natural slate is one of the longer-lasting roof coverings available. It is also one of the more expensive options per square metre, typically £40-£80 per square metre for materials alone at current UK rates.
Artificial or synthetic slate tiles are made from a composite material and are manufactured to resemble natural slate. They are lighter and often cheaper than natural slate, and the colour is consistent, which can actually make matching easier if the existing roof uses artificial slate already. If the original roof is natural slate, however, artificial slate will not be a convincing match up close.
When a chimney is taken down completely, all existing lead flashing at that location is removed. No new flashing is needed because the chimney is gone. But if you are keeping the chimney and having repair work done instead, the condition of the lead flashing matters a great deal.
Lead is the standard and best material for chimney flashing. It is malleable enough to be dressed tightly into the mortar joints of the brickwork and lasts significantly longer than alternatives. Code 4 lead (1.8mm thick) is the typical specification for chimney step flashing and back gutter. Code 3 is sometimes used for soakers but is thinner and less forgiving.
Avoid any roofer who proposes sealing flashing with mastic or self-adhesive tape as a permanent fix. These products have a much shorter effective life than properly installed lead and they mask the underlying problem rather than solving it.
Lead flashing repair or replacement on a standard chimney typically costs between £150 and £450 depending on the extent of the work and access requirements.
The tile or slate is only the outer skin. Underneath it, the roofer needs to install a breathable membrane (sometimes called an underlay or sarking felt) over the new timber framework that spans the gap. This membrane catches any water that gets past the outer covering and directs it to the gutter rather than letting it reach the ceiling below.
Older houses sometimes have no underlay at all under the original roof, or they have a degraded black bitumen felt that is brittle and no longer doing its job. When the chimney opening is closed up, a modern breathable membrane should be used in that section as a minimum, even if the rest of the roof has the older material.
If you are retaining the chimney, repointing the mortar joints is the most common repair job. The old mortar is cut back and replaced with a new mix. The important point here is the mortar specification. For older brickwork, a lime-based mortar is usually the correct choice because it is flexible and allows the wall to breathe. Hard cement mortar can trap moisture and accelerate the decay of the brick face.
Chimney repointing on a residential property typically costs between £300 and £700 for a standard stack, though access - whether scaffold or a platform tower is needed - affects the final figure significantly.
Yes. A common approach is to take the stack down to just below the roof line, leaving the chimney breast inside the house intact. This is simpler and cheaper than removing the entire structure, and it avoids the need for a structural engineer to assess the internal breast (which may be carrying load from the floors above). The remaining internal breast is then capped and plastered over if required.
Removing the chimney entirely below roof level and inside the house is a separate piece of work that involves structural considerations and usually needs building regulations sign-off. That work is typically quoted and carried out as a distinct job from the roofing element.
We cover Steeple Bumpstead and the surrounding villages and towns including Haverhill. If you have a redundant chimney and want a straight conversation about your options, call us to arrange a survey and we will go through the materials and the best approach for your specific roof before giving you a price.
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Call any time. Calls are answered day and night and passed straight to our roofers.
