Ely Roofers carry out chimney take-downs in Girton and explain honestly what drives the price up or down on any given job.
Homeowners in Girton asking about chimney take-downs are almost always led quickly to the question of cost. The honest answer is that prices vary, and the range is wide enough that a headline figure without context is not very helpful. A straightforward single chimney stack on a two-storey house, with standard tile reinstatement and no access complications, will typically cost somewhere between £800 and £1,500. A more complex job - a tall stack, a heavily deteriorated structure, or one where a full scaffold lift is required - can reach £2,000 to £3,000 or more.
Understanding what sits inside that range, and which factors apply to your property, is what this page is about. We serve Girton and the wider area around Ely, and the cost factors described here apply across all the jobs we do in the area.
Chimney stacks vary enormously in height. Some stacks rise only half a metre or so above the ridge - a relic of a long-blocked fireplace where the top has already been reduced at some point. Others, particularly on Victorian and Edwardian properties, stand a metre and a half or more above the ridge, with multiple pots. The more brickwork there is to take down, the longer the job takes and the more material there is to dispose of.
Stack height also drives access requirements. A low stack on a single-storey extension may be reachable with a tall ladder and a scaffold tower. A tall stack on a three-storey property will need a full scaffold lift on at least one face, and possibly two. Scaffold costs are often the largest single variable in a chimney take-down price, and they are determined almost entirely by height and access.
Scaffold towers and lorry-mounted hoists need space to be positioned safely. A property with easy access to a driveway or garden on the side where the stack sits makes the access setup straightforward. A property where the chimney is on a gable wall facing a narrow footpath, a neighbouring fence or a parked car area can make access significantly more complicated.
Parking for a van and a skip lorry also needs to be considered. In a tight residential setting this can require advance planning and occasionally a permit. If a skip cannot be positioned close to the house, the time and labour involved in removing heavy brick rubble increases. All of this is reflected in the final price.
A stack that has been deteriorating for years is not necessarily harder to remove - but it changes the nature of the work. Loose, badly spalled brickwork can be unpredictable as it comes down, requiring slower, more careful dismantling to protect the tiles and guttering below. Heavily saturated mortar may mean the stack is structurally unstable, requiring additional precautions during the take-down.
If the stack has been moving - which a leaning or twisted stack usually indicates - the mortar bed at the base of the stack may have shifted, and the tiles and felt immediately around it are often damaged as a result. Replacing those tiles and the underlay beneath them is straightforward but it adds to the scope and the price.
A chimney take-down always involves opening up the roof around the stack base to remove the old flashing, check the felt and fix in new tiles. The price for the reinstatement assumes that the surrounding roof is in reasonable condition. If tiles adjacent to the stack are cracked, slipped or poorly bedded, or if the underlay beneath them is perished, fixing those issues adds to the cost.
This is not an attempt to add extras to a job - it is a reality of the work. If a roofer opens up the area around a stack base and finds that the surrounding felt is torn and several tiles are cracked, leaving those defects in place and tiling over them would be the wrong thing to do. Any additional materials and time needed should be explained to you before the work proceeds, with a revised price agreed.
Replacing the opening left by the removed stack with tiles that match the existing roof costs more when the tiles are unusual, discontinued or only available as reclaimed stock. Standard modern concrete interlocking tiles are cheap and widely available. Reclaimed clay handmade tiles, old Welsh slate or uncommon profiles can require sourcing and may carry a premium.
Getting the match right is worth paying for. A visibly patched area on a roof draws the eye, particularly from the front of the property, and a mismatched tile profile can create ridges or gaps that eventually cause water problems. On a property in Girton where the existing roof is in good condition and the property presents well, a poor tile match is a false economy.
Some properties have two or more chimney stacks, each serving a different fireplace or range of fireplaces. Taking down a second stack on the same job is cheaper per stack than a separate visit, because the access setup, the skip and the roofers are all already on site. If you have two redundant stacks, it is worth getting them both done at the same time.
A properly scoped chimney take-down price should include:
Access (scaffold tower or full scaffold lift) is often quoted separately, as the cost varies significantly between jobs. Make sure any quote you receive specifies what access method will be used and whether it is included.
Repairs to the chimney breast inside the property are a separate matter - a take-down removes only the external stack above the roofline. If the chimney breast inside is damp, stained or damaged, that is likely a plastering or damp-proofing job, not part of the roofwork. Similarly, any structural repairs to rafters or joists found to be damaged once the stack is removed are additional to the standard take-down scope, and you should expect to be told about them before any extra work is carried out.
The only way to get an accurate figure is to have someone look at the stack from roof level and assess the access, the condition of the structure and the extent of the tile reinstatement needed. A quote based on ground-level observation alone can shift once the real condition of the flashing and the upper courses of brickwork is known.
We carry out chimney take-downs in Girton and nearby places including Cambridge, Over, Stretham, Wilburton and other villages nearby. Call us to arrange a roof survey and we will give you a clear price based on what we actually find, broken down so you can see what each element of the job involves.
No obligation · We usually respond within 2 hours
Storm damage, active leak, damaged ridge - we aim to be on-site within 24 hours.
