The chimney wasn’t so good.   It was failing structurally, and someone had made a half-hearted attempt to splint it back into soundness with a couple blocks of wood, screw hooks, and a turnbuckle.  It was also on the small side — only 16 inches square, but was supporting large hearths above — and the house was sagging around it. There was also a question of respect.  I make no claims at knowing the electrical code, but I’m pretty sure it’s not recommended to run wires down the center of a chimney.   Given all thie, the clients asked us to remove it, shore up the house around it, and replace the non-functional fireplaces with something more user-friendly. While the weather was still reasonably…