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The height of the chimney for your outdoor fireplace depends on where the fireplace is located. Ideally, the chimney should be 2 to 3 feet higher than surrounding structures; this allows smoke to ventilate properly without endangering anyone or anything.

Note: Your municipality may have strict requirements regarding chimney heights, so it’s always a good idea to check local building codes.

Removing and demolishing a fireplace is extremely labor intensive work that also takes a long time. You need to use brute strength to break apart the brick and masonry, and carry the debris to a dumpster. Depending on the size of the structure, you may need multiple days to fully remove it. After removal, you need to determine how you will repair the wall that held the fireplace, which can also be quite time consuming and challenging.

A fireplace is, by definition, an enclosed space where you burn wood or other fuel for the purpose of generating light and heat. A firepit burns wood and is much less expensive to build, but they aren’t technically a fireplace as it isn’t enclosed. An outdoor oven—commonly outdoor brick pizza ovens—often uses wood as fuel, but its primary purpose is to cook food, and you’d rarely just burn wood inside them for warmth or aesthetic reasons.

Even if you aren’t using a home chimney anymore, you need to vent it at the top and bottom to allow for continuous airflow. A blocked-up chimney is still a chimney, so it requires annual maintenance and a professional inspection to ensure its structural integrity is intact. Consult a chimney professional about the ideal timing for venting an unused chimney.