Floating chimney. Am I seeing things?

Oct 21, 2008 34 Replies

A house is being built on my route home. The chimney just went on. The chimney sits on the roof - two pots and it looks like brick. But there's nothing underneath. I nearly crashed into the grass verge trying to make out whether I was seeing things. But no - just empty space. No brick stack going down to the ground. The brickwork is sitting on the ridge. Is it just me not looking carefully enough before, or is this a new idea? Not sure I'd like to be underneath in a high wind.



Peter Scott


Peter Scott coughed up some electrons that declared:

Filming for the next episode of Bobski the Builder?

does it have precast flus pieces ... bricking off top of those would be an option I guess.

Well it MIGHT be purely decorative, or in fact its simply being used as a decorative top to a stainless steel flue.

Let me guess. You either work in a brewery or a distillery right?

:-)

Yes, I saw several of these going up about 3 years ago. Fortunately I was walking past at the time, not driving;-) I can't recall exact details, but the roof was only the timber A-frames, and there were a row of brick chimneys pirched along the apex, with nothing underneath. I think they were setting on what was presumably a steel plate sitting on the rafters. I didn't see any of the stacks being built, and it could be they were just cardboard boxes with brick faces glued on.

prefabricated chimney top?

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That's a relief. I can smile at the guys with the straight-jackets again. Nothing at all underneath. No pipes nor ducts. Just the timber and fresh air.

I wondered if it was plastic, but couldn't see the point of it. Why not just have a stub of metal?

Amazing - I'll have 4 that will impress the neighbours!

I suspect that comment will get you on the a little list at CABE - if their white-coated guys have not already collected you.

Plastic chimneys, just there for show. There is a row of new terraced houses near to me where they had the same thing done, the chimneys were stacked to one side for a few weeks until the roof was finished, then stuck on. Apparently, the planners had to make the new houses blend in with the area, and, they did, from a distance, they look like old terrace houses. Alan.

Saw one of these going up onto an old people's home being built round here (out on the A4 towards Twyford from Reading). I guess it was fibreglass or suchlike and purely decorative to give the place a homey feel rather than looking like a granny processing unit.

The name the place had was (is) most ironic/sad: The Sunrise Home.

I didn't know you could get them with misaligned brick courses, wonky pots, the pointing missing, and a large clump of grass growing out the top? ;-)

I've also got visions of an aerial installer tighening the chimney strap and the chimney puckering in around the middle :-)

Could you get an aerial - or even better a satellite dish - inside a plastic chimneypot?

Owain

Sunset would have been more appropriate.

Owain

Same round near where I live - a new smallish estate went up a few years back with "chimneys" on top to blend-in with the surrounding houses...

Gordon

I like the address of the sheltered housing in Yaxham, Norfolk

"St Peter'sClose"

Anna

-- Anna Kettle Lime plaster repair and conservation Freehand modelling in lime: overmantels, pargeting etc Tel:    (+44)  01359 230642 Mob:   (+44)  07976 649862 Please look at my website for examples of my work at:

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Stupid idiotic planning ideology ;(....

You get right to the bottom before you discover that they are made of steel. Biggest is 90kg. 'Easily fitted by two people'!! It's a bit phoney isn't it, or is it just me being a purist.

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