Vines up a chimney

R

Rickytree

It's brick and about 30 feet tall. Believe it's boston ivy. What is the best way to remove it? Owner wants it cut about 8 feet up. No bucket truck
 
Sling the top of the chimney, add pulley, run your lifeline through it. try tools like a Wonder Bar, hammer, screwdriver, loppers, hand pruners, handsaw....finish off with scraper or wire brush for the fine tendrils.
 
Know the condition of the chimney before hanging your life off of it! Many are stacked stone and brick the mortor long ago ceasing to have binding ability.
 
Hook nose pole saw with a sickle at the base and pole pruner
working off of a ladder.
I have done it many times.Hook and pull from the youngish growth at the top and tug and pull gently and then slice at the vine where it hangs hard and fast with the sickle and down she comes.
Inglewood Manor on Inglewood in the hammer and The Ivy House just around the corner many many times amongst others.

Itchy coughy job but easy money.

English or Baltic Ivy is 3x the work and up close and personal with secateurs and heavy duty putty/paint scraper Best of Luck.
 
Good grief, I did english ivy off a brick chimney..........and the paint, and the shingles, and the flashing a few weeks ago. Service drop and utilities ran about 3" away from the chimney.

Best I found was to start at the top and peel it like a banana, you'll have to cut at the corners to allow the different "faces" to peel down. Cut off short "slabs" with a saw.

I dont know what your situation is, but these vines were so dense, the stems formed almost a solid sheet of wood to nearly 10' from the ground. Bring a cats paw or a claw hammer, you'll need something to pry with. Loppers with a sharp tip would be handy as cutting/prying utensils.

GOOD LUCK!
 
I did a Boston ivy covered chimney a month age, it took 4 hours out of bucket. Used claw hammer, pry bar, and screwdriver. I would never have even attempted it without bucket.
 
I just want to second the warning about using the chimney itself as an anchor. A friend of mine used to rent an old three-story house. One evening we all decided to rappel down the side of the building. We tied off around the chimney. Well, The chimney collapsed on one of his friends. I'm talkin' fell away from the building (detached) and fell ON him. Those of us still on the roof thought for sure he was dead. Then, almost as if it were a movie, there was slight movement from under the rubble. Out he crawled with only some bruises and scratches - unbelievable! To make the story even better, we was all kinds of worried about how to tell the landlord. Turns out, that night over night there was a huge thunderstorm. The next morning he ended up calling the owner and telling him the chimney collapsed over night in the storm. Whatever you might think about how he handled the situation, one thing seems clear. Don't use brick chimneys for life support.
 
You could use the chimney as a redirect and go up and over the house to a truck and tie into the frame or something thick. I've done 3 story homes in center city Philly doing this. Guard your rope with a tarp so the shingles don't abrade it. RADS system is prefect for this type of job. Easy up, easy down.

There is always scaffold you could set up. Time consuming but might be better than depending on your rope skills to get the job done.
 
I've done the up over the house tied to my truck a few times also. But for tedious jobs, like removing ivy on a structure, I found scaffolding to be best. Goes up fast and is super secure.
 
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