Do I need my chimney?
Probably not.
When we design remodels and additions, we commonly deal with the removal of chimneys. Most people think they are structural, but this is not true. Just because it’s made of sturdy brick doesn’t mean it’s structural. In fact, brick is one of the least structural materials there is. When there’s an earthquake, the joints between the bricks crumble, and the brick facades and chimneys tend to fall apart (sorry 3rd little pig). The house is not held together by the chimney. In fact, the structure has a hole through the floor(s) and roof, so the chimney can punch through it. If you remove the chimney, the house is just fine (structurally). It is actually a requirement to remove chimneys or to install steel braces onto them in some seismic-prone areas.
So what is a chimney for? Traditionally, they were used to enable a fireplace, furnace, or hot water system to ventilate to the exterior, and brick is a material that doesn’t burn. It also doesn’t get hot enough to cause the other materials around it to burn. With current construction practices, we don’t need chimneys for this purpose anymore. Some hot water systems use a small plastic pipe for ventilation. Almost all furnaces and gas fireplace appliance inserts use a metal pipe for ventilation. It’s actually a double metal pipe since the inner layer gets hot, but the outer layer stays relatively cool. It’s possible to re-use an old chimney for new vent pipes, and this is really the only valid reason to keep an old chimney. It is a straight path from the basement to the roof that is ready-to-go for retrofitting a nice new plastic or metal vent pipe into. Sometimes it’s still just easier to remove the chimney though.
As you can see, you don’t need a big, bulky, brick chimney for anything in a newer house. The plastic and metal vent pipes are much smaller, take up much less space, and can be installed within ceilings, walls, and floors. Plastic and metal vent pipes can make turns within these concealed spaces unlike their brick counterparts. When removing an unnecessary chimney, you will be left with a lot of usable space that can be incorporated into the rest of your floor plan that really opens up a lot of beneficial options for room layouts.
Is it hard to remove a chimney? Not really. With a sledge hammer and crowbar, you can dismantle a chimney brick by brick. The hard part is the labor to transport all those bricks outside, into a truck, and to a dump or salvage yard. Those bricks are most useful for landscaping projects but not much else. Another challenge with chimney removal is the patching that needs to happen in the floors, ceilings, and roof. This usually involves tying in plywood to marry up with the existing floor or roof surface. Then you need to cover that patchwork with matching flooring, drywall, or roof shingles. This can be a challenge to make things match, so it’s not uncommon that chimney removal results in new flooring or ceiling in an entire room or new shingles on an entire roof. Usually those items would have been part of the original project anyway, so they are commonly a moot point.
If you’d like to evaluate removing your chimney for a future remodel or addition, feel free to reach out, and we can give you an analysis on how things may pan out.
If you’d like to learn more about our design process, visit www.josharch.com/process, and if you’d like to get us started on your project with a feasibility report, please visit www.josharch.com/help