Two of my neighbors removed central chimneys and fireplaces during major remodels. Professional contractors did the work. The work included specialist professional dealing with asbestos removal and encapsulation. New roofing, new ceilings, new flooring, too. Now they have the floor plans and floor area they wanted.

Extremely easy to do and I take down at least a couple every year. Typically only takes a couple of guys half a day to get it out of the way. The resulting hole makes a nice MEP chase. At a minimum, you capture all of the space this space planning impediment takes up.

Fear not. Removing an unused masonry chimney is not difficult and almost always provides huge returns. It's an opportunity.

Thanks Shuler, what's the typical cost to have a professional come in and remove it? I'm assuming you don't fix the roof/floors/etc when you just do a removal?

Normally it's just a couple of hourly laborers dropping bricks to the ground. Don't think it's a huge cost to remove but the return is huge. Normally, this exercise is part of a larger remodel project I'm undertaking - almost always trying to open up a plan for a master suite in an attic.

Gee Tim, you seem to have the same ideas in mind that I'm planning. I'm going to remove the chimney in my house to gain room in the kitchen and be able to add bathroom on the second floor.

Great Al, I'd love to see some pictures of the before and after!

Removing is a piece of cake - done many times in my projects - no problems

We removed a chimney ourselves prior to a reroofing job. It was tedious but not technically difficult. It was very messy though - lots of soot and plaster. Where the chimney came through the floor had to be reframed, floor and ceiling replaced. Since they were antique bricks we saved the bricks for outdoor landscaping projects.

It's not that hard. Get a hard chisel (the fat one with the rounded end for masonry, not the kind you use for wood), a hammer, sledge hammer, good thick gloves, dust mask, some cardboard to drop it onto, a wheelbarrow and stacking/wheeling partner to load them out. Start at the top (of course) and throw them in the chute. If you can seal off rooms surrounding the exit at the bottom, you will be happier with less dust, soot, coal dust, and whatever other awful stuff may come out. Throw a cover over delicate furniture and computer/electronics. Be careful and tie off when you start off on the roof.
Then move in to the attic.
Then to the next lower floor, etc.

Take it all out. My opinion. You will have the opportunity for much more space, many more styling options, floor leveling and consistent floor filling, and to add any structural support that would be needed or just good (continuous floor or ceiling beams which had been interrupted, new lighting runs and fixtures, plumbing, HVAC for your new space, frame in a door for a great new closet or alcove, etc... Use the space. I did and love it. You don't realize how much even the smallest chimney takes up until it's out. And your roof looks like it's well on the way to needing a re-do anyway, so just bite the bullet. If you don't have the money right now but may be redoing the roof line in the next couple of years, you could always patch the roof with really good sealant fabric to prevent any leaks before you add the new shingles, then decide if you will add another floor or just reroof as-is.


good luck. you'll love having the space from a useless fireplace. and you can always add a small, ventless gas operated unit that looks great and gives off heat.

please post before/after pictures.

p.s. make sure nobody has attached any structural supports or electrical conduit runs to the chimney over the years before you tear out. if so, address those issues first, and carefully

very interesting!

I know in my previous comment I said to throw the bricks in the chute but wanted to clarify: throw the bricks into the chimney stack, down through the house, onto some cardboard or something to catch them--and don't forget about bounce... small pets, children, thumbs... seriously, consider safety and make sure you communicate with the person at the bottom that bricks are about to be coming down: you don't want to throw just before someone puts their head/face into the chimney chute to yell up to you. Ouch!
Also, if you were to throw them off the roof, you are likely to miss and do damage to your shingles and/or hit someone or something on the ground below--unless you set up an actual slide or chute of some kind to get them down to the ground safely. And there's always bouncing, even if there's not much on the ground. You could lose a low-slung window. Or rabbit.

It doesn't look like you have that many above the roof line so it probably wouldn't be worth the time to set up a system for throwing outside.

One more clarification: When I said "be sure to tie off" I meant YOU. Tie yourself to something sturdy, like the chimney at first and then something inside the attic as the chimney gets to be too short to be a stable tie-down location. I am not a safety expert and hope someone else will chime in. There are those roof step things... and scaffolding... Surely you can google the correct way. Wear safe shoes. Don't be distracted. Don't work alone. Don't have a radio blaring so loudly someone couldn't hear your yells for help. Don't do anything stupid. Don't fall off your roof and break your neck or back or arms and legs or die to save a few dollars. If you're not up to it, hire some people to do it.
Taking down the bricks is easy. Being on the roof may not be.

If you're planning on re-doing the roof as part of this and weren't planning on re-doing the roof yourself, ask if the roofers would take out the brick down slightly past the roof line, then let you take over from there while they work on the roof? They would have to connect the roof frame and plywood in that area, then put new tar paper/similar and shingles there. You could continue your way down through the house. Any good roofer should set up scaffolding and have all the correct mentioned safety equipment (if they don't, don't let them work on your home--that's a person not treating their workers well and also someone who can sue you out of your home if someone gets hurt or killed. Verify their workers comp. & liability insurance before they get the job).

Just a suggestion.

I am having the top of my chimney taken down to below roof level on the side of my house so we can replace the leaky guttering. I would never have one taken down at this time of year again unless necessary. The mortar was frozen solid so extremely difficult to break. This resulted in the whole house shaking with the vibrations and loose plaster cracking. I do think that had this been done in summer the impact would have been less traumatic on my house. However, apparently the prospect of water running down the walls for the next few months will have a more damaging effect.

Just some demo work, a dumpster and remodeling work... Expect lots of dust and lots of bricks.
I just took a chimney down on the house I am renovating. This is a pile of bricks from the chimney.

Need an opinion. I am about to buy this house and here is the living room. I think I want to take the chimney out. What do you think ? The upper part of the chimney is actually in the garage, so should be easier.

nowhere else to put tv right ?

This looks a really good size room so why would you take the chimney out? Unless I was really short of space I would leave a functional focal point in the room. We have taken a fireplace out of our kitchen diner and the opening left behind has been left ready for a log burner. However we don't want one yet so have had a fitted unit with a wine rack and book shelves put in it looks great.

problem is that the TV is too far off to the side. Want TV to be focal point and DO NOT want to put TV above fireplace. We think that is the dumbest thing ever thought of by mankind.

all that talk and still managed to avoid ----THE COST!

since i made the above comment my son-in-law who has a roofing business took it down-- free, am i lucky or not. it took him and a helper 4 hrs to do it. he did the actual roof work and the helper did the grunt work. also he is known as one of the best so it might take someone else longer but at least it gives you some idea as to what it might cost,

I just had an old chimney stack removed to the right above the roof line and a chimney cap cemented on for $450.00. Not quite sure how much it would have cost to remove the whole thing.

Just had a chimney removed from an 1880's house. Took it down to inside the attic and covered over in there. Then, roof built over hole where chimney was, using slate to match rest of room. Cost us $875.

One thing to be careful about, though: before removing a chimney, find out if your furnace and water heater are gas and vent out the chimney. If they do, you're looking at a lot more work (and more money) than just removing the chimney.

I just had the chimney taken down in a two story cape cod style cottage. There had once been a wood stove there and it was in a central hall. I had a skylight installed over the opening in the roof. Then where the hole was in the upstairs floor, I had a 3/4 tempered glass inlaid so you can walk over it. I made the recessed area downstairs where the chimney came out into an atrium. Left the old rough cut beams exposed. So now the natural light comes down into the central hall and supports the plants in atrium. It was a cool project to use wasted space that the chimney took in the hall. I used the old bricks from the chimney to line garden paths in the backyard, and I put Mexican river rocks in the bottom in the atrium.

Patrick I would like to know what state you live in I was just quoted 6,000 to have mine taken down I was sick when the guy told me this I live in a queen anne victorian home I thought the quote was high but I just don't know what to do, any suggestions would be helpful.

I was told it was.prohibitively expensive but I live.in westchester ny

We took down a chimney in a 1890s Victorian as part of a whole house renovation. We had three quotes that varied from $1,000 to 3,800. When questioned why the most expensive said he would beat the lowest if hired on the spot. Asked him to leave used the middle quote. It took two men most of the day was messy, but space opening was necessary and worth it all.

older homes can look odd without their chimney/s, so take that into account. and if you are in an historic district (i am) you're not allowed to remove them.

You're crazy to remove period features from your home. If you want something modern then start from a vacant block and build. If you are lucky enough to be in a federation home appreciate its beauty. Chimneys are part of its antiquity. I am trying to rebuild chimneys into a c.1910 home. It is so much more difficult than taking them down, as the owners did in 1975. Don't be a fool and ruin an old house!

We removed one in our last home a 1890s folk Victorian. Even if no longer used for a fireplace or stove chimney (sure our was used for coal stove here in the mid-west) you might have a furnace or hot water tank being vented through it if so they will need a new way to vent. We routinely get four bids, comparing apples to apples. It was a few thousand dollars in 2003. Removal started at the top the bricks were lowered in a bucket then carried away. Cost factors for our job accessibility and dump fees. It took a crew of three a full day and lots of mess.

I am planning to buy an old Victorian house where the surveyor mentioned structural issues with the chimney stack. We are getting the chimney stack removed and capped, but we aren't sure if we need a structural engineer to check the work to ensure structurally it is all good. We do have plans to remove the chimney breasts from the rooms at a later point in time.

Can some one let me know if we need a structural engineer to check if the stacks have been removed properly and if the building structure is fine?

Thanks for the comments, im about to buy a house built in 1820, the house has 4 chimneys in the chimney breast. Im

glad to see the comments about that it’s doable. I am dreading the job 🙂

Its doable but!!!! I would seek a professional to remove it. I'm a bricklayer/ company owner in Vancouver and I get asked to remove full chimneys all the time. It's not a easy job and you have to be very careful you don't cause any damage to your house.