Maintaining My Home

Check chimneys and flues for:

• build up of soot
• crumbling chimney mortar
• corrosion of flue/cowl/fixings
• loose fixings.

CLEANING CHIMNEYS

How often a chimney needs to be cleaned depends on how often the fire is lit, the type of fuel used and the type of chimney. Open fires should be inspected once a year and and woodburners every one or two years depending on use.

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UNSOUND BRICK CHIMNEYS

Unsound brick chimneys on villas and bungalows can collapse in a major earthquake – a chartered professional engineer can assess the structural strength and condition of a chimney. If you want to retain the chimney, an engineer can recommend options for securing it to the structure and strengthening it.

If a dangerous brick chimney is no longer required, it can be removed, at least to below the roofline. Removal of an unsound chimney does not require a building consent for any building up to 3 storeys high as long as the removal does not affect the primary structure, any specified system or any fire separation (which includes firewalls protecting other property). Necessary repair work such as making good the gaps left in a roof after chimney removal can also be done without a consent.

One option that vastly reduces the earthquake risk but also retains the architectural and heritage character of the house is to replace the original brick chimney with a replica chimney. These are commercially available in pre-war styles and have a thin real brick veneer held in a composite/ fibreglass construction. They can be factory-made or finished on site. They can be less than 10% of the weight of a traditional brick masonry chimney, meaning that while they look like the real thing, they are vastly safer.

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