blocking off a chimney

[hiace_drifter]

I'm having my exterior chimney stack removed, and the resulting gap in the roof tiled over. In the loft I'm hoping to have the chimney there removed too, to free up some floor space. The roofer is removing the chimney, but I'm not sure he will cap off the remaining stump. My concern is a hole will be left at floor level, and I'd be a bit nervous about just boarding over it. I would rather cover it in something a bit tougher - a garden slab or two cemented on? Any other suggestions?

[wes56]

So the roofer is removing the chimney breast in the loft down to the loft floor joists level?
What you do next and how you do it depends on what your future plans are for the loft?
Presumably you have one or two rooms below the loft with chimney breasts and fireplaces - are the, possibly blocked off, fireplaces and flues ventilated somehow?

[hiace_drifter]

There's one fireplace at ground level which will be bricked up (with a vent left in). The chimney then passes up through the first floor but that won't be touched for now. The loft is boarded and just used for storage. My only concern at the moment is how to cap off the chimney stack to make it safe, I don't just want to put loft boards over it. I'm probably being paranoid.

[dewaltdisney]

I feel you tend to over-focus on things and this job should not be an issue. If the stack is being removed, down to the attic floor level, then the biggest potential problem has been resolved. There are lots of houses where the breasts are removed under the chimney and the mass of remaining bricks in the stack are left supported by a gallows bracket of steel. I saw a house once where the remaining stack toppled and a ton of bricks crashed through the house, fortunately, no one was injured.

In your case, the stack is being removed and the roof made good. There will be a residual surface where the stack removal finishes and this can have a cover constructed over it until you get around to removing the breast under it. I do not see an issue to be worried about.

DWD

[hiace_drifter]

I feel you tend to over-focus on things and this job should not be an issue. If the stack is being removed, down to the attic floor level, then the biggest potential problem has been resolved. There are lots of houses where the breasts are removed under the chimney and the mass of remaining bricks in the stack are left supported by a gallows bracket of steel. I saw a house once where the remaining stack toppled and a ton of bricks crashed through the house, fortunately, no one was injured.

In your case, the stack is being removed and the roof made good. There will be a residual surface where the stack removal finishes and this can have a cover constructed over it until you get around to removing the breast under it. I do not see an issue to be worried about.

DWD

Forgive my concern, but I have two young kids and i dont want them falling down the chimney in the loft! And my question was specifically around "a cover constructed over it" - i.e. how to do that.

[dewaltdisney]

In its simplest form, a bit of 2 by 2 screwed to the ceiling joists as a frame and some chipboard over screwed down. As the breast will remain below the floor there will not be a void that a child could fall down.

DWD

[hiace_drifter]

In its simplest form, a bit of 2 by 2 screwed to the ceiling joists as a frame and some chipboard over screwed down. As the breast will remain below the floor there will not be a void that a child could fall down.

DWD

Thank you. I have very limited time for jobs (I grab an hour here and there). Some jobs are ok to stop midway, but for this one i wanted to have everything i need in advance.