Bungalow Chimney Removal

[Wolfman310]

Hi there. 
 

I am after a little advice as confused on differing opinions on the full removal of our chimney and what may be best. We have lived here for a year now so getting through projects. 
 

The chimney and opening in the lounge is on the external wall of the house but within the side garage attached. 
 

Our chimney and opening has a small wood stove and chimney pipe leading to the roof that produces so little heat and causes some terrible drafts. 

 

The chimney itself is in poor condition and needs serious work picked up in the survey, and as we don’t want to use the stove we want to do the following. 
 

knock down the chimney to below the roof line above the floor to reinstate the natural roofline and tiles and Brick up the opening in the lounge. 
 

This leaves the small cavity and breast left from the living room to within the loft area. Due to drafts I went to permanently close it off without air bricks etc but unclear what to do with what’s left. Could I insulate it from the top down to the bottom and then cap with boarding in the loft the bit left to the lounge? 
 

if I was keeping the top would have just added air bricks but as it is in such a poor state someone would have to get up there and rebuild the top anyway so may as well remove it. 
 

any help or advice would be great. 
 

have attached a photo from the marketing when we bought and a google street view of the chimney. 
 

Russell. 
 

 

 

 

 

Edited January 2 by Wolfman310

[Gone West]

We live in a bungalow and I took one of the chimneys down last summer. It went ok, so I'm taking the other one down when it warms up, and it will be a similar job to yours. I was going to cap it off in the loft after bricking up the opening and pouring insulation down the hole. I haven't decided what type of insulation yet, but probably EPS beads or expanded glass beads. Someone else might have a better idea about the insulation.

[Wolfman310]

Good luck with the other chimney. 
 

Great to hear someone else doing the same as I was thinking, especially with no provision for any air circulation. 
 

Is difficult to establish the best infill material, I had been looking at a few options and then got befuddled with options. 
 

 

 

[Wolfman310]

On 02/01/2025 at 16:31, Gone West said:

We live in a bungalow and I took one of the chimneys down last summer. It went ok, so I'm taking the other one down when it warms up, and it will be a similar job to yours. I was going to cap it off in the loft after bricking up the opening and pouring insulation down the hole. I haven't decided what type of insulation yet, but probably EPS beads or expanded glass beads. Someone else might have a better idea about the insulation.

A company called Poly Pearl http://polypearl.co.uk will sell the Grey EPS beads to a DIY person in 10ft3 bags to pour in at circa £22 + VAT per bag. 
 

they have been really helpful since I contacted them after my posting here. 

[andyscotland]

@Wolfman310 could I ask how you got the beads to you?

 

Polypearl have been very helpful but they can't do delivery or palletising as they only deliver bulk in their own transport. So it has to be collection from Nottingham as individual 10ft³ bags.

 

Unfortunately due to the size of the bags I'm getting fairly ludicrous quotes for couriers to collect and bring to Edinburgh : 10 bags is ~£1,200 from the parcel courier comparison sites. Man & van sites are coming in around ~£300-£400 - better, but still fairly prohibitive... 😬

[Redbeard]

SIG group used to sell them, and they have 3 sites in Scotland (not incl. Edinburgh, I am afraid). A search for 'SIG, EPS beads' finds nothing, but it's worth calling them.

 

Good luck.

[andyscotland]

@Redbeard thanks, I'll try SIG.

 

Scotland is probably achievable for me to collect myself (I have a Citroen Berlingo which is pretty good for volume) - certainly more achievable than Nottingham!