Do I really need to remove my chimney?

 And if so can I do it myself...?

I've posted several times about this new house I'm prepping to live in.
The work is going great and I've got about 5 different quote from 5
different HVAC contractors. I'm pretty sure I'm going to go with a 92+
furnace and a high efficiency water heater. The chimney, once used to
burn coal, and then more recently, oil, thus no longer serves any
purpose.

The chimney is cracking but does not appear horribly dangerous, and
there are 8 other houses on the street with the exact same setup. I'm
wondering if it would be a real hassle to get up there with a chisel
and break it down? I guess there's no harm in keeping it, but I'm
trying to compare costs of removing the thing, and just letting it
stay.

Here's a picture where you can somewhat see the chimney:

http://flickr.com/photos/talllguy/115005720/in/set-72057594057780280/

Basically:
* How much would it cost to have taken down by someone else?
* How hard would it be for me and some friends?
* Why not just leave it?

Thanks!

  wrote:


It looks like shit; knock it down.

 
cracking but does not appear horribly dangerous, and> there are 8 other houses
on the street with the exact same setup. I'm> wondering if it would be a real
hassle to get up there with a chisel> and break it down.

Thanks for the pic.  That thing extends a good distance above the
roofline.  My estimate is 8 to 10 feet.  Can you meaure or estimate
this distance?  My gut feeling is that this way more hassle than it's
worth.

 >I guess there's no harm in keeping it, but I'm> trying to compare
costs of removing the thing, and just letting it> stay.> Here's a
picture where you can somewhat see the chimney:

You just have to get bids.  It may cost more than you would like
because your roof will a hole in it when this thing is gone. You might
get bids from roofers.


If you rent a lift bucket it will be easy.  Without a bucket, not so
easy.  It wll be harder to repair the hole in the roof.  Do you have
any roofing or carpentry skills?  You might consider having it removed
to the roof line at the same time you are installing a new roof.  Then
it will be easy to remove the inside portion.


You have not given any reason for removing it.  I can think of a
couple. Is it is taking up space inside the house that you want to use
for somthing else? Are you planning to replace your roof anytime soon?
It is a safety concern?  Those are the only good reasons I can think
of.  

Lawrence

 Elliott P wrote:

    That picture helps.

    If it were mine, I would like to get rid of it, but I would wait until
it was time for a new roof. Right now the chimney is likely the weak point
in the roof so I would want to get rid of it, but doing so would make a new
roofing problem.  Much less of a problem to take it out when you re-roof.

--
Joseph Meehan

Dia duit

 
Joseph Meehan wrote:

Isn't clear from that picture to me if the chimney goes through the
roof or along the back side of the house we can't see.  In any case,
the key questions are:

Why remove it, except for that it looks ugly?

What has to be done to cover up either the hole or where it runs along
the side of the house?

Assuming you want to get rid of it, you can do it yourself, but as
someone already pointed out, to do it safely will likely require
renting a bucket/lift of some type.