Chimney Stack Demo - DIY or Outsource?

Question

Hey all,

I am in the middle of my first rehab (for LT rental) and want/need to lower two decaying chimney stacks to a safe height above the roof.  One is about 20 ft tall (11 ft above a 9 ft roof) and several feet from the main power line.  The other is more manageable, about 5 ft above the roof.  I'm not sure if a demo specialist or mason would be better.  I also don't have a GC and am managing the rehab myself and planned to spend under $2,000 for this.  These are my options:

a) Expensive contractor - wants $8,500 to demo and cap the two stacks plus some other brick repairs/repointing.  Insured.  Good reviews on work.

b) Cheap contractor - wants $1,500 for the same work.  Communication is challenging, most likely uninsured, but this is in-line with the budget.

c) Keep searching for contractors, adding time to project and potentially costs.

d) Buy scaffolding or rent scaffolding or a lift and demo myself for under $1,500, including dumpster.

What would you do??

Thanks!

Bruce Woodruff · Answer

DO NOT hire an unlicensed/uninsured Company! They will also not have Worker's Comp, which makes YOU liable for any injuries to his workers if they should fall off the roof.

Go with the more expensive guy. This is not a DIY kinda thing.

And have you checked the 2/3/10 rule? The top of the chimney must be at least 2 ft higher than any roof within 10 feet. Your roof looks pretty steep and you may have to keep it at that height you currently have. Do not screw this up, the liability penalties would be huge since you're dealing with fire.

Matthew Paul · Answer

Thats a rather dangerous job . The chimney is leaning a bit . @Sean Regan If you dont have much construction experience , I would leave it to the licensed , and Insured contractor . Ask yourself what could go wrong and who could get hurt ?

Jacob Sherman · Answer

Would definitely outsource for liability purposes

Scott Mac · Answer

For person who is not afraid of Heights, a bucket truck might be do it yourself solution.

Inside these chimneys might be clay liner tiles.

I watched a DYI chimney demo on a 1930's one story, in San Antonio, with a fireplace below.

The fireplace it protruded from the outside wall versus being an inside fireplace and chimney.

It was the owner of the house and a couple of neighborhood teens who handled the demo and clean up.

The owner went on the roof using a ladder and took a couple of wacks at the chimney with a sledgehammer and big chunks of brick, morter and clay flue fell down on the roof and damaged the roofing, and rolled off into the yard where the boys broke it up.

The put in wheelbarrow and took it to a pickup truck which squatted heavily when filled with bricks.

It looked like a dangerous footing situation to be on the roof but the chimney came down to about chest height that way.

Then he took the sledge and just bumped the bricks loose, down inside the fireplace.

He took the whole fireplace out so there was a hole in the wall (and added a window) and the roof had to be extended over where the chimney went through, and they had to replace the shingles that were super damaged from the initial bricks falling.

Permits, I don't know if that required a permit or not in San Antonio. In your area might though.

It was not a fast job and they overloaded the back of the pickup quite a bit weight wise. It was squatting down heavily but they finished it in one long Saturday with a lot of iced tea.

I have also personally seen two owners die from falling off of one story roofs- so if you do go up there be careful.

Good Luck!

Evan Polaski · Answer

@Sean Regan, what is either chimney venting?

While $8,500 definitely seems expensive, $2,000 is probably not enough to do this correctly.

To get the best pricing and still do it correctly, you will likely need multiple trades, depending on what the purpose of each chimney is.

You will certainly need a mason to do tuck pointing and likely capping of any remaining pieces left.  They will likely also need to close any access points to satisfy city inspectors that the now capped chimney cannot be used to "vent" anything in the future.

You will likely want a demo team that is much cheaper to do the actual demo and haul off, but you need either the mason or an engineer to stipulate how far down they can/should demo, while leaving enough room for the cap to be effective and maintain any structural rigidity into the future to not create more issues.

Long story longer, I would call more licensed, insured contractors.  I would not call this a DIY job, personally.

Jonathan Greene · Answer

You are in a very bad position because of this - "I also don't have a GC and am managing the rehab myself and planned to spend under $2,000 for this." Do you have experience with renovations at all, like watching others? When you do your first renovation, the last thing you want to do is to cut corners. Your budget can not dictate the safety of the project and your relationship with the town and permitting. You should get some more estimates, but what you are really trying to do is to find someone who has a license and insurance to do it for the cheapest price and that will set off a chain of events that will never end.

It's more likely that you bought the house with a wrong scope of work done because you don't have a GC and thought you could DIY it. You can not DIY a chimney, there are so many things that can go wrong structurally, you could ruin the house and lose even more money.

Sean Regan · Answer

Thanks everyone for the advice!  I forgot to mention the chimneys/fireplaces are not operational and will only be kept for cosmetic purposes, and I don’t want to spend the money to completely remove them.  I will look for a few more contractors that specialize in this to try to get an insured contractor with a better price.

Peter Mckernan · Answer

I put this as a structural challenge in a scope of work. What I would do is hire a licensed contractor for this work.

The 6 things I hire licensed people for on a flip/rental:

1. Roof

2. Electrical

3. Structural/foundation

4. Plumbing

5. AC/Heat

6. Windows

Chimney Stack Demo - DIY or Outsource?

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