Hole in chimney... should I be freaking out?

[michaelattwaters@hotmail.]

We are stripping the concrete render from the outside of our ancient house (c. 1700) and planning to replace with lime render. We stripped a bit of concrete render from the chimney (external; at about head height) and one of the bricks behind it fell through! So now we have a hole in the side of the chimney and are holding off on stripping any more render from the chimney (I'm wondering if the concrete render is providing some structural support?). Should I be panicking right now about the structural integrity of the chimney? The chimney looks fine from inside the house. I will upload a photo tomorrow. Would appreciate any advice. Thanks

 

[stuart45]

As the chimney will probably be a 4 inch thick wall around the flue you will find that a hard cement render will be difficult to remove without doing a bit of damage, unless the render is blown. You'll probably find the stack is even worse, and might need a bit of a rebuild.

 

[michaelattwaters@hotmail.]

Thanks for the response Stuart. I've attached a photo of the hole that we now have in the chimney, for context:

 

[stuart45]

You'll need.to get a small sharp chisel and try and get it inbetween the render and brickwork. Once you get a patch away from the hole it should get a bit easier. The problem with old flues is that over the years the acids from the smoke have attacked the lime mortar joints. You often find with old chimneys that once the render is off you can lift off the brickwork by hand.