[jlazer99]

I have a chimney to remove. This is from an old oil furnace, the furnace was replaced with an electric furnace and the previous owner never bothered to take it down. This chimney is in the center of the house, it's stainless steel and riveted at all the seams. I have full access to it, I just cannot take it apart. I was thinking of taking my reciprocating saw and cutting through it and just yank it out. Does anyone know if there is any asbestos in the chimney casing?

 

[Ron6519]

How old is the house? Most asbestos useage stopped in the mid 1970's.
If you're unsure and this is double walled pipe, you should be able to disassemble it.
Ron

 

[jlazer99]

How old is the house? Most asbestos useage stopped in the mid 1970's.
If you're unsure and this is double walled pipe, you should be able to disassemble it.
Ron

It was built in the mid 70's ( in Quebec ). I checked a few sites and the chimney might have rockwool insulation between the stainless steel cover. If that's the case it should be okay to cut with a reciprocating saw. It cannot be disassembled that easy the connections are all riveted.

 

[Ron6519]

It was built in the mid 70's ( in Quebec ). I checked a few sites and the chimney might have rockwool insulation between the stainless steel cover. If that's the case it should be okay to cut with a reciprocating saw. It cannot be disassembled that easy the connections are all riveted.

I'd just drill out the rivets. The pipe was probably put up in sections of manageable lengths. I bought my stainless liner in sections of 5'. They had a locking collar on them, so no screws or rivets.
Ron

 

[SteelToes]

You may need something to keep the rivet from spinning as its being drilled out...look for the rivet removal tool

 

[jlazer99]

Most of all older houses were constructed with fireplaces in every room to provide heat. These days central heating has replaced the need for fireplaces and the chimney breast is seen as wasted floor space in the room. If a ground floor chimney breast is removed and suitable beams are not provided to carry the weight of the stack and chimney breast on the first floor the resulting eccentric loading of the stack and breast could eventually pull the wall over. The chimney is part of the structure of the house and its removal should be carefully considered before any work is carried out.

Yes, that is true. However that's not my case, this is a prefab stainless steel chimney, it's not supporting the house in any way. It's just a matter of popping those rivets out and disassembling it. I'll post pic of before and after