Repointing, rebuilds, new flashing and cowls where the stack has cracked, leaned or started letting water in.
Chimneys take more weather than any other part of the roof because they stand proud of it on every side. The usual failures are mortar washed out of the joints, cracked flaunching around the pots, and lead flashing that has lifted where the stack meets the tiles. Repointing and reflashing solves most of it; a badly leaning stack needs taking down and rebuilding.
Brickwork, joints, flaunching, pots and flashing all get checked, because fixing one and leaving the next to fail is a wasted visit.
Sound stacks get raked out and repointed. A stack that has moved or lost its bond gets taken down to a solid course and rebuilt, reusing the bricks where they are worth keeping.
New flaunching is formed around the pots with a proper weathered fall so rain runs off rather than sitting on it.
Fresh lead dressed into the brickwork and over the tiles, chased in and pointed. This is the joint that fails most often and the one worth doing properly.
Where a flue is unused we can cap it while leaving it ventilated, which stops water coming down without trapping damp in the stack.
Free quote, no obligation, and a straight answer on whether the work is actually needed.
We cover Derby, Nottingham, Burton upon Trent and the towns around them.
For repointing or a rebuild, usually yes, because of where the stack sits and how long the work takes. Small flashing repairs can sometimes be done from a roof ladder.
It can, and removing a redundant stack takes a lot of weight off the roof. We would talk you through the roof making good afterwards, since the hole has to be tiled back in properly.
The sloped mortar cap around the base of the pots that sheds rainwater off the top of the stack. It cracks with age and frost, and once it does the whole stack starts soaking up water.
Most often failed flashing or open mortar joints letting water into the brickwork, which then tracks down inside the stack. It is rarely rising damp, whatever else you may have been told.
We do our best. On a rebuild we reuse the original bricks wherever they are sound, which keeps the stack looking like it belongs on the house.