Chimney Removal Cost UK (2026): Breast, Stack or Both

Chimney removal prices

What holds up the chimney above?

A chimney breast is part of the structure: it carries the breast above it and the stack. Take out the ground-floor breast and leave the rest, and something has to carry it. LABC, the body for council building control, says that may be a fire-protected steel beam or steel "gallows" brackets, and your structural engineer decides which.

Gallows brackets are triangular steel frames bolted to the wall with a lintel or plate across them. Waltham Forest Council's building control guidance note lists when they won't do:

• your neighbour has already taken out their breasts on the other side of the wall;
• the brickwork of the wall is in poor condition;
• there's more chimney above the roof than below it (it could overturn), or simply too much masonry to carry;
• the chimney isn't bonded into the wall, in which case it has to be propped until the supports are in.

A chimney on a side wall can also be holding that wall up. If it buttresses a wall longer than 9 metres on a two-storey house (12 metres single storey) with no other cross wall, LABC says an engineer must check the wall's stability, and the guidance note suggests restraint straps tying the wall to the floors and roof.

Taking down just the stack

If the stack leaks or is crumbling and you never light a fire, taking it down below the roofline and tiling over is often cheaper than rebuilding it (see chimney repair costs). LABC says you don't need a building regulations application to remove the stack above the roofline only. You do if you're removing the stack all the way down through the house, because it may be supporting walls, floors or the roof.

The breasts you keep become disused flues. Historic England says a disused flue still needs some ventilation to stay dry, so ask for a vent in each breast that stays. If the stack is shared with next door, LABC says a shared stack has to be taken down as a whole, so you'll need their agreement, and any flue they still use has to be tested by a competent person afterwards.

Builders and roofers both take on chimney work. Whoever you use, LABC's advice is to pick someone experienced: done badly, it can leave you with ventilation and damp problems or worse.

Shared chimneys and the Party Wall Act

If your chimney is on the party wall, the Party Wall Act gives you a specific right to cut away a projecting chimney breast from it, but you must serve a party structure notice at least 2 months before work starts. If your neighbour doesn't consent in writing within 14 days, the Act treats it as a dispute: either you agree on one surveyor, or you each appoint one and they pick a third. The cost of the work itself is yours.

Talk to your neighbour before the notice goes in. It's also how you find out whether they've already removed their breasts, which decides whether brackets can work.

Permissions: what you need and when

Getting building regulations approval

Your structural engineer draws up the design and calculations, and they go to building control before work starts. LABC suggests a full plans application rather than a building notice, because the calculations have to be approved first. I'd do that: you find out before the builder starts whether the design passes, not halfway through.

Don't skip it: Citizens Advice warns that work done without the approval it needs can mean being made to put it right and problems when you sell.

Is it worth removing a chimney?

My view: removing a leaking stack you don't use is usually worth it, because on our estimates it costs less than rebuilding it and ends the repair bills. Taking out breasts is harder to justify on cost alone. It's structural, involves an engineer, building control and often your neighbour, and LABC warns it can cause serious structural damage if done badly. Do it when the space genuinely changes how you use a small room, not just for looks.

Frequently asked questions