What should my chimney stack look like?

[Tom]

Hi all

We're getting ever closer to re-instating the chimney stack that has been removed down to gutter level. However, I've got no idea what it would have originally looked like and I'm keen to rebuild it in the best style possible. Can anyone point me in the direction of any pictures that might help, or even give me a description of how it might have looked?

[/img]http://img.photoamp.com/pa/07/07/17/cH3Nuydmf.JPG[/img]

Hope that link works!

Jaqy

 

[Tom]

Oh rats!! Hold on.....

Try that[/img]

 

[chuckey]

Interesting house! It would seen to be built out of stone blocks then smooth rendered? If you are going to smooth render it on completion, I would just build a tall rectangular stack out of bricks and render that. The chimney pots tops should be above the ridge, to stop back drafts. It is a bit peculiar that the roof has been re-tiled over the chimney without any trace of new tiles? Must have been done over 30 years ago?
If you go up in the loft the base of the stack may still be there or at least the original (cut) joists and what ever they used to make good the hole in the roof.
Looking at the roof line, it would not be out of the question for there to be a steel support, out from the roof to the stack, because it seems that the stack height will be in the order of 9 feet.
Take a walk up and down the road to see if there are any other houses of your style and what their stacks are like.
Just out of curiosity, to the left of the stack, there seems to be an area of wall that is set in from the general run, with a bit of flaunching out to the gutter line. is this area of wall single skin?
Frank

 

[Gervase]

Chuckey's right - see what the stacks are like on other houses, and also try your local library and local paper for old photographs of yours or similar houses.
If you're worried about loadings, an ash-block stack like those from the Volcanic Chimney Company are much lighter than blockwork and brick if you're going to render.
Just on gut instinct, your shallow hipped roof looks like it went on in the Fifties or earlier. I'd be intrigued to see the timbers underneath and the wall-plates to check if there wasn't once just a plainer slated or tiled roof flush with the main run of wall, ending in a leaded gulley flashed up against a tapering external stack, which was taken down when the chimney was removed/fell down/was struck by lightning or whatever.

 

[Tom]

Thanks for your replies. There are no houses like this one in this area. It dates back to around 1470 and is the remains of the old Manor House. Originally it had 3 floors, the top one with dormers to the front. It's built from Blue Lias with Ancaster ashlar quoins. The roof was put on in the very early sixties, when most of the other 'damage' was done to the house. I don't know if the stack was removed at the same time or whether it had already gone.

Chuckey, the walls are 2 1/2 feet thick and I have no idea why there's that bit to the left of the stack. It's been bugging me for years!! But it's one of the few secrets the house has left for us and I'm looking forward to removing the cement render to see what lies beneath

Jaqy

 

[MdB]

I'm sure the following is completely unsuitable but I came across the pub in Lymington last weekend and I was looking for an excuse to post. How the stacks have not come down over the years I really don't know as they look incredibly top heavy.

 

[Tom]

Oh my!! Now, that would look something special. Any idea what period the building is from?

Jaqy

 

[Penners]

What's the remaining bit of the stack below gutter level like? Is it plain brick? If so, I should have thought this could simply be continued up to above ridge height. Something along these lines:

You could do something a bit fancy with the top few courses of bricks if you wanted to. Perhaps like this:

 

[biffvernon]

That's a Lincolnshire stack from mid 18th century.

Your window frames might not be original from 1470.

 

[Tom]

@ Biff. I do like that style. Not too fancy but makes a statement.

The stack is built from Blue Lias with Ancaster quoins, the same as the main house structure. Inside, the fire backs are brick to the level of the stone lintels then Blue Lias all the way up to where the stack has been removed.

Keep the suggestions coming!!

Jaqy

 

[DaveBrigg]

Another Lincolnshire stack, date unknown (this bit is partly Elizabethan, but has been adapted over the years, and was reroofed in Victorian times). The box on the right is an inspection hatch.

 

[biffvernon]

I haven't got a picture but there are a number of twisted chimneys round my way. I think it ia a very local tradition. The bricks are arranged to form a spiral. The local view is that the twist encourages a vortex in the rising smoke that improves the 'draw'. Nonsense of course, but firmly believed. They form distinctive landmarks, as in to get to my house, 'turn right at twisted chimneys'.

 

[skier-hughes]

It's not just local to you Biff, our house had a twisted chimney stack, but unfotunately when the previous owner had it rebuilt it was taken down and built up straight.

Mind you, we do live on Vernon land :wink:

Graham

 

[Penners]

That's a Lincolnshire stack from mid 18th century.

Biff - I like the treatment of the brickwork along the verges of the gable. Is there a name for that style?

Are we looking at Chateau Vernon?

 

[Nemesis]

Tumbling? Or tumbling in?


Tumbling in A vernacular detail found on a gable where brick courses are laid at right angles to the verge to produce a triangular pattern.


http://www.north-norfolk.gov.uk/planning/5446_5695.asp

 

[biffvernon]

That's right, tumbling brickwork. It's seen in pretty well all gable walls in houses and barns in the Lincolnshire Marsh from18 and early 19th centuries. It allows for a steep pitch suitable for pantiles (which our house had originally).

 

[Nemesis]

Occasionally the tumbling can be of triangles of stone set in brick, or stone in stone.

Can be seen in the north too, where pantiles were once reasonably common - post thatch pre slate, and where stone wasn't used.

 

[Penners]

Tumbling? Or tumbling in?
Tumbling in A vernacular detail found on a gable where brick courses are laid at right angles to the verge to produce a triangular pattern.

That sounds right. Thanks Nem.