Chimney removal: taking down a stack and the regulations that apply

Four situations come up, and they lead to different work.

Taking the stack down to the roof line

The roofer removes the brickwork above the roof, caps the flue below and leaves the breast inside the house in place. Nothing changes indoors, which is why this version is the quickest and the least disruptive. This is the lightest version. The roof is made good, and the room beneath is untouched.

Taking the stack down below the roof line

Here the removal continues down into the loft, so the roof structure has to be framed and re-covered where the stack passed through it. More work, but the loft is left clear.

Removing the breast but keeping the stack

The fireplace and breast come out of the room, and the stack above is supported another way. That is a structural alteration in its own right, and it needs design and approval before anyone lifts a tool.

Removing the lot

Breast, stack and flues all go. The house gains floor space and a clear roof, and the work spans several trades.

It helps to decide which of the four you want before asking for prices. A quote for the stack alone is not a quote for the breast, and a builder who offers to do one may not be the person to do the other. A roofer deals with the stack, the roof and the weatherproofing, and where the breast is involved a structural engineer and your building control body come into it as well.

The Planning Portal states the rule for the breast flatly: Building Regulations approval always applies to removing one, because it forms part of the structure of the building. That means an application to the council's building control team or to a registered building control approver, whichever you choose, before the work starts.

Private building control has existed for years, and a register of approvers has applied since April 2024. Where the council deals with the application, Arun District Council's building control team covers Bognor Regis, and each district has its own. In the South Downs National Park, building control stays with the district council even where the national park authority handles planning.

Party walls

If the breast is on a wall that you share with a neighbour, a party wall notice has to be served on them before the work starts. The notice is a separate matter from building control approval, and it is easy to forget. Allow time for the neighbour to respond.

What the approval looks at

In practice the building control body will want to know how the load above the breast is carried once the breast has gone, and that is a question for a structural engineer. The approval also takes in what is done with the flue and the ventilation, and how the wall is made good. Ask the engineer and the building control body what they need to see before any breast is touched, because the answer shapes the schedule.

For the stack above the roof alone, ask your building control body whether your job needs notification. We explain the route and, where work is notifiable, we handle it. Our answer on chimney breast removal regulations goes into the breast in more detail.

Planning is the second question, and the answer depends on the address.

Why permitted development does not settle it

The general permission for other alterations to a dwellinghouse roof, known as Class C, leaves out chimneys. So you cannot lean on it to say a chimney may be altered without a planning check. Section 55 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 helps in a different way, because work that leaves the outside looking materially the same falls outside the meaning of development. A stack that stands out on the skyline is different from a small one hidden behind a ridge, and the council decides what counts.

Listed buildings

A listed building cannot be demolished or altered in a way that affects its special interest without listed building consent. A chimney can be part of a listed building's special interest, so removal needs the council first.

Conservation areas and Article 4 directions

Some directions name chimneys directly. Portsmouth City Council's directions for Old Portsmouth and for Castle Road and Campbell Road in Southsea list taking down or changing chimney stacks. Havant Borough Council's direction for Langstone lists pulling down a stack visible from the highway. Arun District Council's two directions deal with houses in multiple occupation and the Craigweil House verges, with no roof rights involved, but conservation areas in Bognor Regis still have their own guidance, so ask Arun District Council's planning team.

In the Chichester district and the Harbour villages, put the question to Chichester District Council's planners about your street. Our answer on chimney removal and planning permission goes further.

When only the stack is going, the sequence is straightforward, but the care taken at each stage decides how well the roof ends up.

The scaffold or tower goes up first, with sheeting and boards to catch debris. Pots and cowls come off, then the stack is taken apart course by course from the top, with the bricks passed down by hand or lowered in a bucket on a line. Brick and mortar are lowered or chuted to the ground, not dropped, and the area below is kept clear of people. If the house was built or refurbished before 2000, HSE advises assuming asbestos is present in the building, so ask about flue linings and nearby materials before anything is broken up.

Once the stack is down to the level agreed, the flue needs dealing with. A flue that is no longer used can be capped and ventilated, and a roofer will explain what the cap must do. If the work goes below the roof line, the gap in the roof is framed with new timber, covered with underlay and battens and finished in tiles or slates to match the rest. Leadwork is renewed where the roof meets a party wall or a neighbouring stack.

Matching is the part people notice. A patch of new tiles in a different colour stands out, so we look for the nearest match in size and shade, and set the patch to the same pattern as the surrounding slope. The survey photographs, taken beforehand, let you check afterwards.

Everything is swept, and the waste is taken away when the work is done.

Most of the cost and the risk in chimney removal sits indoors. A breast is heavy, it often supports the stack above, and it is built into walls that carry floors and roofs.

If the breast and the stack above are both going, the whole mass can be taken down in stages from the top, which is the simplest route. If the stack is staying, something has to carry it once the breast is gone. A structural engineer designs that support, and the building control body checks it. The work also sets what the wall needs after the breast has gone, including patching, plastering and reinstating the floor and skirting.

Dust and mess are significant. Rooms are sealed and covered, and a breast that is cut out leaves a large quantity of rubble to be carried out. Plan for several days where the breast runs through more than one floor, and move furniture and carpets out of the rooms before the day.

Flues in use

If a boiler, fire or stove uses the flue, it cannot simply be removed. The appliance engineer must be told, and the appliance will need another route for its flue. Never take down a flue that still serves an appliance without that being sorted first.

Damp and the breast

Sometimes the reason to remove a breast is the damp that comes with it. Our guide to a damp chimney breast explains the causes, many of which can be cured from the roof without taking anything out.

Removal is permanent, so it pays to be sure the problem cannot be mended. A second opinion from a roofer who looks at the stack from the roof, not the ground, is worth having.

No national guide we cite gives a typical price for removing a chimney, and the figure varies too much for a rule of thumb. It turns on whether the job is the stack, the breast or both, how high and wide the stack is, what the roof needs afterwards, and the access. After the survey you receive a written quote, and it is one total.

Access is a big part of it. Checkatrade, in its scaffolding guide with a table updated October 2026, gives a chimney scaffold at around £660 a week. Scaffolding over the pavement needs a highways licence under section 169 of the Highways Act 1980, from the highway authority. VAT at 20 per cent is added to most national figures, so ask whether a quote includes it.

Options short of removal

Not every unused chimney needs to come down. Repointing, new flaunching and fresh lead cost far less than removal, and the stack stays as a feature of the roofline. Where the flue is not wanted, capping and ventilating it keeps rain out. Our answer on whether to cap an unused chimney explains the difference.

If you do want it gone, send us the address, a photograph of the stack from the road, and a note on whether the breast is part of the job. We survey the roof, give you a plain verdict on removal, repair or capping, and set that out in writing, with a single total for the job. In a listed building or conservation area, ask your council first, and tell us what it said.