Haverhill Roofers carries out chimney take-downs in Sturmer and walks every homeowner through exactly what happens, from the initial assessment right through to leaving the roof clean and tidy.
Call any time. Calls are answered day and night and passed straight to our roofers.
A chimney take-down is not a quick one-person job. It takes planning, the right equipment, and a clear sequence of work to do it without causing damage to the surrounding roof. If you know what each stage involves, you can ask better questions when getting quotes, and you will know whether the roofer turning up on the day is following a proper process.
Below is how a chimney take-down should be carried out on a typical residential property.
Before any price is agreed, the stack needs to be looked at properly. Ground-level inspection with binoculars gives a useful overview of the condition of the brickwork, the state of the flaunching and pots, and the type of roof covering around the base of the chimney. But the real assessment happens at roof level.
A roofer assessing the job at roof level will check the height of the stack (how many courses of brick need to come down), the condition of the lead flashing, whether the roof timbers around the stack appear sound, and what tiles or slates are in use so the right matching material can be sourced. They will also look at access - where a ladder can be safely footed and whether scaffold or a platform tower is needed.
Do not accept a quote that has been given from the pavement without anyone going up to look. A price agreed without a proper inspection often changes once the roofer gets up there and finds what is actually going on.
Most chimney take-downs on a two-storey house require some form of elevated access beyond a standard ladder. A roof ladder (also called a cat ladder) hooks over the ridge and allows the roofer to work across the slope safely without putting weight directly onto the tiles. For taller stacks or where the stack is particularly difficult to reach, a platform tower or scaffold may be needed.
Getting the access right protects both the people doing the work and your roof. Walking directly on tiles without a proper roof ladder causes cracking and slipping.
The chimney pot and the flaunching - the sloping mortar bed that holds the pot in place - are removed first. On a chimney being taken down, the pots are usually set to one side. Old pots in good condition can be worth keeping; some people use them in gardens. The flaunching is broken off and the debris bagged or dropped carefully into a skip or onto a sheet below.
The brickwork comes down one course at a time, working from the top. Each brick is loosened carefully with a bolster chisel and club hammer, or with a flat bar, and lifted or eased off rather than knocked sideways. Pushing or kicking bricks off a roof is poor practice; it risks damage to the tiles below and is unsafe if anyone is at ground level.
The number of courses being removed matters for the final cost and the time on site. Some homeowners want the stack taken down only to just below the ridge, so the chimney breast inside the house can stay without needing structural work. Others want everything removed to the line of the roof slope so there is no visible remnant. Both are valid approaches - the right choice depends on your house and what you want the finished result to look like.
As the stack comes down, the two flues inside it become visible. These need to be dealt with as part of closing up the roof opening.
Once the stack is down to the roof level, all the existing lead flashing is stripped off. This includes the step flashing that runs up the sides of the chimney, the back gutter flashing behind it, and the apron (front) flashing. All of this lead is removed because the chimney it was serving no longer exists. The roof timbers and tiles around the former chimney opening are now fully exposed.
With the chimney gone, it is possible to see the condition of the timber work around the opening - the trimmer rafters that frame the hole, and any purlins or other structural members nearby. A roofer doing this job properly will check these for rot or damage before closing up. If any timber is soft or crumbling, it needs to be cut out and replaced before the new covering goes on. Covering over damaged timbers simply creates a future problem.
The opening left by the chimney is spanned with new timber framework - typically new trimmer rafters cut and fitted to match the pitch of the existing roof. This gives a solid base for the new covering. The new timbers are fixed securely to the existing roof structure.
A breathable roofing membrane is fitted over the new timber framework before any tiles go on. This layer catches any water that gets past the outer covering and directs it down towards the gutter. Modern breathable membranes allow water vapour to escape from inside the roof, which reduces the risk of condensation building up in the roof space. Older black bitumen felt did not breathe - if your roof has this and you are having a section renewed, the new section should use a modern breathable product as a minimum.
New tiles or slates are fixed to battens over the membrane, working from the eaves upward to the ridge. The aim is to integrate the new covering with the existing roof so the join is as invisible as possible. Getting the gauge (the distance between each course of tiles) to match the existing roof matters here - if the new section has slightly different coursing it will be immediately obvious from the street.
Where the new section meets the ridge, ridge tiles are re-bedded and pointed to seal the junction. On a mortar-bedded ridge, this is done with a sand and cement mix. On a dry-fix ridge system, the new section is integrated with the existing dry-fix components.
All brickwork, mortar, old lead, broken tiles and packaging should be removed from the roof, from the gutters and from around the base of the house. A job done well leaves nothing behind except a tidy roof. Check that gutters have been cleared of debris before the roofer leaves, because brick dust and mortar fragments settle in gutters during this kind of work and will block them at the first heavy rain if they are not cleared.
A standard chimney take-down on a two-storey house - stack down to below ridge level, roofed over with matching tiles - typically takes one to two days for a competent team. A larger stack, more complex roof, or the need to source reclaimed matching tiles can extend this. Any roofer who quotes a half-day for a full take-down and roof-over without seeing the job first should be questioned on what exactly is included.
A full chimney take-down and roof-over on a residential property in this part of Essex typically costs between £800 and £1,500. The main variables are the height of the stack (more bricks to remove and more time at height), the type of roof covering, whether reclaimed materials are needed for a match, and access requirements. These are general UK figures - your actual quote will reflect the specifics of your property in Sturmer.
If you have a redundant chimney you want assessed properly, call Haverhill Roofers. We serve Sturmer and the surrounding area including Haverhill, and any figure should only be given once the stack has been looked at.
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