Hi, I have a chimney that runs through the middle of my house. It's
part of a block wall on the ground floor then forms it's own brick
square section chimney up through the 1st floor and through the loft.
Two sides of the chimney are incorporated into stud walls on the 1st
floor. It's about 18" square.

Does anyone know if it's easier just to remove the whole thing or to
leave the stack in the loft? If I remove the whole thing clearly
I'll need to get to the top of it - can this be done from within the
loft - i.e. make a hole in the roof, take the chimney top down then
make good the roof mostly from inside? (or put a skylight in)

The other option is to remove only two sides of the chimney on the 1st
floor so that it still supports some of the weight of the complete
chimney above and then have a beam in the loft to support the rest of
it. Trouble is I'd have to get a long beam into the loft and I'm not
sure that's possible.
I guess I could remove the bricks in the loft and have the remaining
stack on a platform?

On the ground floor the chimney breast section would be removed
leaving the original wall in place.

Any other ideas? Just get someone in to do it?!

My downstairs block wall is made of high density blocks and I'm
guessing that the 15" or so protusion of the chimney breast does form
any sort of structural bracing.