MegaSack DRAW - This year's winner is user - rgwb
We will be in touch
Next door (other half of our semi) decided they wanted to fit a woodburning stove, and the fitter came out today to put a chimney liner in. When he got up to the chimney and took the pot off, it turned out that the pointing is rotten to the extent that the bricks are all sloping inwards, and the chimney needs to be repaired before they can fit the liner. The other chimney is in a similar condition - not immediately dangerous, but in need of repair.
Given they are shared chimneys and we had said from the outset that we suspected it needed repair, we're OK with paying some of the cost, but wondered if anyone a) knows a good brickie/roofer in Sheffield, or b) could give an estimate of likely costs to removing and replacing the pots and top 8-10 courses of bricks on 2 chimney stacks, including scaff hire.
By the time they got to a point where they could see the state of the inside of the chimney, there was no way they could replace the pot, so there's now a nice big hole for the rain to get in to our blocked-in fireplaces...
Cant advise on the actual job but watching with interest as i neeed to do the same soon....
How ever what stopped them happing the top up with a tarp for now?
Same happened for us when we got a stove. Builder was going to re render chimney stack, new flashing, new top slab and pots. That was to be about £900-1000 of a larger job. When he got the old render off the whole stack was damp and cracked, so rather than add another £900-1000 to take it down to roof level and rebuild, he took it down below, built the roof and slates over the whole, with 2m of twin wall flue sticking out. He didn't need scaffolding for this, just roof ladders and boards.
So maybe £500-1500, based on my experience of a vaguely similar job in probably a completely different part of the country.
I think the reason for not covering the hole was simply that the stove guy didn't have anything to cover it with and wants to get the job done ASAP so the hole is an incentive. The cherrypicker people wanted to get out of there quick (possibly due to the fact they had damaged a garden wall) and the house owner wasn't there.
We would want the chimneys repaired, not removed, because the house is old enough that it would look wrong without them…
Just done 2 - about 3 days work normally but depends on mortar as to how well the bricks clean up. Someone had been at one of the ones I did and repointed it with concrete (or at least it semmed like it!) couldn't clean up the bricks so had to find some more to match, that's when the cost went up! Cue 2 days faffing and £1.60 per crappy reclaimed brick that isn't a match but the best we could get. Scaffolding varies a lot in price, get 3 round to have a look. I'm darm sarf so can't comment on Sheffield rates - down here for terraced/semi with reasonable access about £1400 including scaffolding.
Bump for the lunchtime shift...
Any Sheffield locals around?