"How does one safely do this *on the roof*? What kind of harnesses, etc are needed? (We are in a small 1 story house, built 1948)."

Depends on how steep the roof is. A ladder hooked over the peak is fast, secire, and easy to make up.

"How can I *really* be sure that this wonÂt hurt the structure of the house or cause shifting or anything?"

Make sure no joists are inlet into the chimney using it for support, then take it apart from the top on down.
Cover the fireplace with plastic sheet taped to the wall.
A plugging chisel and a 2 pound riling hammer will open joints, a 3/4 inch cold chisel will do the rest of the chiselling.
It is hot, hard work, but pretty simple.

Masonry is stong in compression but weak in tension, so try to use the chisel to lift bricks up from the bottom (drive the chisel under the brick so it pops up).

Save yourself several days. Rent a roto-hammer with a chisel point.

Thanks.
Thanks.

Brickeyee...sorry to be uninformed, but how do you tell if
"joists are inlet"....can you describe what I'd see?

Or...would it help if I took a digital photo and uploaded it for you to see?

So...ya'll have done this before?

Any other advice, anyone? We sure could use it?

BTW, I'm a woman and my arms aren't that strong. I'll have to pay someone to get on the roof, but sort of want to try the demolition myself.

Is this realistic?

One more small note: Use good ear protection. On a long job like this you can do some damage to your hearing with all the pounding or use of power tool.

When you are done, you could use the bricks for a lot of different landscaping jobs or other use so save them if possible.

This sounds like a really hot job for the summer!

"So...ya'll have done this before?"

Many many times. Some times to remove them, sometimes to rebuild them.

No wood should touch the chimney.
If you see wood going into a pocket (shallow depression) in the brick it may be built as a load carrying chimney. It was stopped a long time ago as a fire hazard, but in hung around into the 1950s in a few places.

A rotary hammer is big, heavy, and complete overkill for dismantling a brick chimney. It is more suitable for concrete work then a small demo job in an attic.

I would not think twice about spreading a tarp and tossing the bricks down from the roof to the yard if enough room is available. If the ground is hard spread som e sand to stop them from bouncing and when you are done just spread the sand out further to get rid of it.

Thanks! I'll get up there and take a look. You're right...too hot...so I'll probably wait until fall to tackle it.

Much appreciated.

Start at the very top, on the roof.
Masonry is very heavy and a falling chimney is nothing to sneeze at. I have seen a couple let go during maintenance and smash through the roof like it was cardboard.
I saw one fall over while trying to get a flue liner installed. The rubber bladder and fill with refractory slurry method. It blew out about 1/3 of the way up from the bottom, and then the entire thing pulled away from the house and fell into the yard.
A cool fall day wil allow easier work on the roof (less damage from walking on asphalt chingels) and you can start taking it apart brick by brick.

Wow, the pic of the side of the house looks very similar to the property I just picked up. I am also looking to remove the chimney to increase the size of the bathroom. I was wondering about what you refered to as a light tube...besides that is it possible just to add an attic vent in place of the hole in the roof. What would repairing the roof consist of...simply placing plywood in the hole and tie in new shingles? Is there anything that goes between shingles and plywood like an underlayment? Any suggestions/pointers would be appreciated, Thanks!

Instead of a rotohammer I use an air chisel. It is a neumatic-powered tool that looks like a pistol. It's light-weight and easy to handle, and makes quick work of removing bricks. The trick is to "unlock" the bricks by chiseling into the joints on all sides. I can generally save about 90 percent of the bricks that way and re-use them for other things.

Newrehaber...sorry...crazy here....a light tube can be seen at Lowe's, etc....it's a tube that goes from roof to ceiling of your room...and it reflect light down. So, sort of like a sky light, but not exactly. Google...you'll see.

Good luck.

Realized that I never posted an update.

You can see a few pictures of the wall/chimney getting knocked down. We did use an air chisel and it went quickly and it was pretty easy. Even with tons of plastic up, dust got everywhere but no way around that.

Thanks for the advice.

Lots of photos
http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j49/andi956/

CHIMNEY GOING DOWN:
http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j49/andi956/IMG_3095.jpg

http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j49/andi956/IMG_3098.jpg

NEW FRIDGE CUBBY:
http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j49/andi956/IMG_3132.jpg

Here is a link that might be useful: chimney down for kitchen remodel