The Chimney Cosey - a temporary solution.

[dishman]

I have a small chimney stack that needs removing. That is penned in for later this year along with other works. However, a small leak needed to be stopped/prevented in the mean time....

Luckily there is a roof window about 1.5 metres from the stack.

so

presenting....The Chimney Cosy!

View media item 99778
The stack is only 50x50. I was hoping to find a waterproof garden bag to slip on it but I could not find one of the correct size. So, wanting to get this done before the downpour hit...

1) I made a 51x51x40 cage out of strong wire mesh (not thin checken wire stuff).

2) Wrapped in in heavy duty taupaulin and gaffered any folds...

3) Made some gaffer belt eyes to feed a cambuckle belt through (to tighten once in place) and a gaffer hook to lower it on the stack.

4) Using a pole I lowered it onto the stack. It fit perfectly. I then pulled the cambuckle strap and with the resistance from the stack it pulled itself tight.

Temporary chimney cover complete!

After the torrential downpour today....not a drip in sight!

 

[Elastomeric]

I bet you hook a lot of ducks at the fairground

 

[vinn]

OP,
You've positioned a potentially dangerous object on your roof.

No way should that arrangement be left in place - why, because you have no way of knowing how exposure might weaken the ties, & what a sudden gust of wind might do to lift it up, and fly it to ground level (incidentally bringing down any loose pots or masonry).

FWIW: Things left in place on a temporary basis have a habit of being there for far longer than intended, & the longer its on your stack the more chance it has of causing an accident.

 

[Nige F]

That chimney should be swept and ventilated

 

[dishman]

OP,...
No way should that arrangement be left in place.....

Really appreciate your concerns Vinn.

In fact I have taken some on board and modified it.

I realised that once the tarp had been shaped to the mesh cube, the chickenwire mesh was no longer needed.

So I have removed the metal cube cage and now just directly covered the chimney with just the cube shaped tarp. This is much better, lighter, safer and can be secured much tighter to the stack. It is now just a light piece of tarp around it. The cambuckle secures it very tightly and I check it daily.

I also appreciate you concern about it being left in situ longer than intended. That will certainly not be the case. This is a defunct stack that is going to be lowered below roof height. I just needed the leak to stop in the mean time.

Re:Nige F

The chimney is ventilated. Just not above roof level (I know that is more ideal). It is pretty clean inside too.

-

Since the dry weather the pre-existing damp dried out. After the heavy rain with the tarp in place, it has not returned. After a short rain spell it would normally have return pretty much immediately.

 

[Ian H]

You missed a trick there.

If you had covered it with a cardboard box, you could have simply attached an address label to it and posted directly to your local tip to save removing it yourself.