Chimneys.

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 gimmergimmer 27 Dec 2020

I always have a rant that modern houses look really odd  without chimneys. The chimney provides a bit of vertical to their shape. Otherwise they're just horrid boxes. Could they have fake chimneys? Or does a chimney weaken the roof too much (I have had leaking roofs around chimney in the past). ? Or is  it cost. Or is it ant-fakery? Who decides? Can something be done because chimneyless houses look odd. It's OK if they are an ultra modern design but  traditional roofed houses look daft without a chimney. 

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2
In reply to gimmergimmer:

No they can't. And I know you've had a busy week but you're not fooling anyone with that username, Santa. 

Post edited at 16:35
 Cobra_Head 27 Dec 2020
In reply to gimmergimmer:

They do have fake chimneys, at least they do around here, I don't get it, more pointless shite for no practical reasons, they come pre made and are dropped into place with a crane. Utter utter bollocks.

 Blue Straggler 27 Dec 2020
In reply to gimmergimmer:

They used to be very popular. You can find loads, still, on various “awful American architecture” blogs. 

The Titanic had one as well 

OP gimmergimmer 27 Dec 2020
In reply to Cobra_Head:

They don't  seem to do fake chimneys in this bit of Yorkshire.

Post edited at 16:57
OP gimmergimmer 27 Dec 2020
In reply to Blue Straggler:

But isn't a bit of fakery OK? Shutters, doric columns, Edwardian mock Tudor?

 marsbar 27 Dec 2020
In reply to gimmergimmer:

I hate fakery.  There are other ways to make things more interesting surely.  

Sandpiper 27 Dec 2020

My fairly modern (1990s) three bed semi in an ex mining village looks just fine without a chimney. It doesn't need one either from a practical or aesthetic point of view. It's far from a horrid box. A fake chimney would just look ridiculous.

1
 MG 27 Dec 2020
In reply to gimmergimmer:

No. Fakerey looks shit, not least because it is rarely convincing, e.g. shutters too for the windows. Find some other way, of which there are many, to make houses look decent.

1
 arch 27 Dec 2020
In reply to gimmergimmer:

Yes they are fake and they're crap. Daughter and Son in law bought a brand new house with one and it was nothing but trouble. They're basically a fibreglass box with brick "slips" stuck on with mastic and then pointed up. They're fixed to the roof trusses first, then tiled around afterwards. Once the pointing falls out, rain can get in behind the slips and runs down the box, under the flashing and tiles and unless the felting is up to a very good standard, which I doubt it will be, the rain gets into the house.

We had the roofers back to "repair" the chimney loads of times, even to the point of having another chimney fitted. Needless to say it leaked every time. The cost must have been enormous with all the scaffolding involved every time. In the end, we managed to get it through to the SIL that a dry house was better than having a plastic chimney on his house, and had it removed. Not many chimneys left on houses on the estate the Daughter lives on now. They've mostly been removed.

They're shit, avoid them at all costs if possible. New house Dormers are the same as well. 

 Root1 27 Dec 2020
In reply to gimmergimmer:

Some houses on our estate have fake chimneys, but many are being removed because they are leaking.

 PaulJepson 27 Dec 2020
In reply to gimmergimmer:

You could replace then with clock towers.

 profitofdoom 27 Dec 2020
In reply to gimmergimmer:

> I always have a rant that modern houses look really odd  without chimneys.... Can something be done because chimneyless houses look odd.... traditional roofed houses look daft without a chimney. 

Errrrr no fire so no chimney

Personally I don't think houses look odd without a chimney

 wbo2 27 Dec 2020
In reply to gimmergimmer: didn't they make fake house fronts for film shoots? Would that do the job for you? 

Nice business for someone there.  Turn Nant Paris into a cowboy town 🙂.  Or 'Beatrix Potter' specials for Langdale 

 mik82 27 Dec 2020
In reply to gimmergimmer:

Most modern houses look rubbish anyway. The market is dominated by a handful of builders that build thousands of identikit little box homes to a "traditional" design. Adding fake chimneys isn't going to remedy that.

 Michael Hood 28 Dec 2020
In reply to gimmergimmer:

Fakery has to be done really well to look good, something which is beyond most mass house builders.

I always laugh at some of the houses that people add Doric columns to...

Big imposing mansion - probably looks ok.

Three bed semi - ha ha - looks ridiculous and you certainly ain't got no style.

 felt 28 Dec 2020
In reply to gimmergimmer:

What I'd like is real chimneys to produce fake smoke.

 Fozzy 28 Dec 2020
In reply to mik82:

> Most modern houses look rubbish anyway.

Agreed. Pretty much all new builds are pokey red boxes built to the lowest possible price and standards. There’s not a chance in hell I’d buy one. 

 jkarran 28 Dec 2020
In reply to gimmergimmer:

Fake chimneys were a thing 25 years ago when I last worked on a site. Judging by the number of wonky protuberances I see atop modern homes I'd assume the vast majority are now fiberglass.

Fun fact, one of my local churches has a fake fiberglass steeple which explains the alarming looking lack of support and the fact the fire brigade occasionally get called out to it when it wobbles in high wind

Jk

 Toerag 28 Dec 2020
In reply to Fozzy:

> Agreed. Pretty much all new builds are pokey red boxes built to the lowest possible price and standards. There’s not a chance in hell I’d buy one. 


Are they still using bricks or have they moved onto SIPS timber-framed jobs?  The latter are a disaster waiting to happen because most architects don't know how to design for them, and most builders don't know how to build them.  The UK's humid, salty & windy climate is simply asking for rot trouble.

 oldie 29 Dec 2020
In reply to gimmergimmer:

We like lots of things to be a certain way because we're used to them, even if there's no practical reason for them. Fashions move on eg paint colour for decorating, textured wallpaper (wallpaper ....do we really need that, its less popular abroad). Novel clothing fashions are often derided by the old guard but may be generally acceptable after a time.

 GrahamD 29 Dec 2020
In reply to Sandpiper:

> My fairly modern (1990s) three bed semi in an ex mining village looks just fine without a chimney. It doesn't need one either from a practical or aesthetic point of view. It's far from a horrid box. A fake chimney would just look ridiculous.

A bit of Yorkshire stone cladding would spruce it up a treat, mind.

 Neil Williams 29 Dec 2020
In reply to gimmergimmer:

Quite a few modern houses do have "fake" chimneys with the gas flue on top instead of chimney pots.

 Neil Williams 29 Dec 2020
In reply to Toerag:

> Are they still using bricks or have they moved onto SIPS timber-framed jobs?  The latter are a disaster waiting to happen because most architects don't know how to design for them, and most builders don't know how to build them.  The UK's humid, salty & windy climate is simply asking for rot trouble.

Timber framed new-builds are very common and have been since the 90s.  They're quite easily identified by the fact that the top half usually doesn't have any brick at all, rather "fake wattle and daub" that by now is mostly looking tatty.

Post edited at 10:16
 arch 29 Dec 2020
In reply to gimmergimmer:

One reason these chimneys are fitted is to do with the planning regulations. It's so the new houses  "fit in" with those older houses around them that do have a working chimney. 

We asked out local council about removing our Daughter's house chimney, and they said we may need planning permission to remove it. 


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