Chimney work across Surrey
Chimney repairs in Bookhamand across Surrey, from repointingto brickwork and new pots
Repairs, repointing, brickwork replacement, flaunching to stack tops and new chimney pots: the whole stack dealt with as one detail, guaranteed for 10 years.
10 year workmanship guarantee on chimney and leadwork. £2m public liability, £10m employers' liability.
30+ years
Matt's experience on Surrey roofs
Guaranteed
Workmanship guarantee in writing
£2m / £10m
Public and employers' liability cover
Bookham based
Local across Surrey, not a call centre
The service
A chimney is the most exposed brickwork on your house, and it leaks in more ways than one
A stack stands clear of the roof on every side, so it takes wind and rain from all directions with no shelter at all. That is why the mortar goes first there, why the flaunching cracks, and why chimney junctions are one of the most common sources of leaks we are called to.
Our chimney work covers the whole stack: repointing failed mortar joints, replacing spalled or damaged brickwork, renewing the flaunching that seals the top of the stack around the pots, fitting new pots, and dealing with the leadwork where the stack passes through the roof.
That last part matters. A chimney leak can come from the pointing, the flaunching, the brickwork or the lead flashings and back gutter, and often from more than one at once. Fixing whichever is easiest to reach leaves you with the same damp patch. We deal with the detail as a whole.
We work on chimneys across Bookham, Leatherhead, Fetcham, Effingham, Ashtead, Epsom, Cobham, East and West Horsley, Shalford, Woking and Guildford, on live chimneys serving fires and stoves and on disused stacks that still have to keep water out.
Damp on a chimney breast or ceiling nearby
Staining on the breast, in the corner of a bedroom or on the ceiling near the stack usually points at the pointing, flaunching or lead rather than the roof covering.
Stacks with crumbling mortar
Missing mortar joints and sandy, hollow pointing let water into the brickwork, where frost then does the rest. Repointing is far cheaper than rebuilding.
Cracked or missing flaunching
The mortar cap around the pots is the lid on the stack. Once it cracks, water goes straight down inside the brickwork.
Anyone using or reinstating a fire or stove
New pots and a sound stack top matter when a chimney is back in use. If it has been capped or neglected, it needs checking before it works again.
What happens if it waits
Water in a stack does not stay in the stack
Brickwork absorbs water through failed joints, and a chimney has more exposed joints per square metre than any other part of the building. Once saturated, the wet travels down inside the stack and into the roof space and the chimney breast, appearing as damp in bedrooms and on ceilings, often several feet from the stack itself.
Frost then turns absorbed water into physical damage. Wet brick freezes, expands and blows its face off; the spalling you can see from the ground. Each winter takes more, until the stack no longer just needs pointing but needs bricks cut out and replaced, or in bad cases rebuilding from a lower course.
Cracked flaunching is the fastest route of all, because it lets water run down the outside of the pot into the flue and the core of the stack. From there it soaks the internal brickwork and reaches the roof timbers around the stack, which is where a pointing job becomes a carpentry job.
There is also a safety dimension. Loose bricks, a leaning stack or an unstable pot sit directly above a roof, a garden and often a pavement. Chimneys are the part of a house most likely to shed something heavy from height, and they are the part inspected least often.
Common mistakes we get called out to fix
- Smearing sealant over cracked flaunching instead of cutting it out and forming a new cap that sheds water.
- Repointing over sandy, hollow mortar rather than raking the joints back to sound brickwork first.
- Using an over-strong cement mix on older, softer brick, which forces moisture and frost damage into the bricks instead of the joint.
- Fixing the pointing but leaving split lead flashings or a failed back gutter, so the leak carries on unchanged.
- Filling a chimney junction with mortar where properly dressed lead is what the detail needs.
- Capping a disused stack without ventilation, trapping moisture inside the brickwork and the breast below.
How the job runs
How chimney work is assessed and carried out
Step 1
Inspection
The whole stack is assessed (pointing, brick faces, flaunching, pots, and the lead flashings, soakers and back gutter where it meets the roof) plus the breast and loft internally.
Step 2
Diagnosis
You are told which element is letting water in and why, and whether it needs repointing, brickwork, new flaunching, pots, leadwork, or a combination.
Step 3
Detailed written quote
Each element is itemised (pointing, brick replacement, flaunching, pots, leadwork, access) so the scope is clear before anything begins.
Step 4
The work
Joints are raked out and repointed with a suitable mix, damaged bricks cut out and replaced, flaunching renewed, pots set, and lead detailing dressed correctly.
Step 5
Verification
The stack top is checked to shed water, the lead detailing is confirmed to carry water out over the tiles, and the roof around the stack is left sound.
Step 6
Clear down and guarantee
Debris and old mortar are removed, gutters left clear, the site cleaned, and chimney and leadwork guaranteed for 10 years in writing.
What you get out of it
What sorting the stack properly gives you
Damp on the breast stops
Because the actual entry point is dealt with (pointing, flaunching, brickwork or lead) rather than the one easiest to reach.
Frost damage halted
Dry brickwork does not spall. Repointing now is what prevents brick replacement and rebuilding later.
A stack that is safe overhead
Sound brickwork, secure pots and solid flaunching remove the risk of something heavy coming off the highest point of the house.
Roof timbers protected
Water tracking down inside a stack reaches the rafters and ceiling around it. Stopping it there keeps the problem out of the structure.
10 year workmanship guarantee
Chimney and leadwork carries a 10 year guarantee on our workmanship, backed by £2m public liability and £10m employers' liability cover.
One trade for the whole detail
Brickwork, mortar and lead on a stack are one job. You are not coordinating a bricklayer, a roofer and a leadworker around each other.
In detail
Repointing, brickwork, flaunching, pots and leadwork
Chimney work is several trades in a small space. Here is what each element involves and when it is needed.
Repointing
Repointing means raking failed mortar out of the joints back to sound material and refilling with an appropriate mix, rather than skimming new mortar over old.
Mix matters on older Surrey properties. An over-strong cement mix on soft brick traps moisture and pushes frost damage into the brick faces, so the pointing outlives the wall it was meant to protect.
Correctly finished joints shed water rather than hold it, which is the whole point of the exercise and the reason a good repointing job lasts.
Brickwork replacement and rebuilding
Where brick faces have spalled or blown, individual bricks are cut out and replaced with matching brick so the stack stays weatherproof and looks right.
Where a stack has moved, leans, or has deteriorated over several courses, a partial rebuild from a sound course is sometimes the honest answer, and you will be told that plainly rather than sold repointing that cannot hold.
All work above roof level is set up with safe access, because a chimney is the least forgiving place on a building to be improvising.
Flaunching and chimney pots
Flaunching is the mortar cap that seals the stack top around the pots and throws water off. Cracked or missing flaunching is one of the most common causes of a wet chimney breast.
Renewing it means removing the failed material and forming a new cap with the right slope and thickness, with the pots properly bedded rather than perched.
New pots are fitted where existing ones are cracked, loose or missing. On disused stacks, capping and ventilation are handled so the brickwork can still dry rather than being sealed damp.
Leadwork at the chimney junction
Where the stack passes through the roof, lead does the sealing: front apron, side soakers or step flashings, and the back gutter behind the stack.
The back gutter is the highest-risk detail on the whole roof because it collects water arriving from above and has nowhere natural to send it. When it fails, water enters directly beside the stack.
We replace and dress lead properly to carry water out over the tiles. Mastic and mortar in these positions are a temporary measure pretending to be a repair.
Live chimneys, disused stacks and Surrey properties
Local housing has plenty of period stacks; tall, exposed and often serving fires or stoves that are back in regular use, which makes a sound stack top and pots more than a cosmetic question.
Disused stacks still need maintaining. Left alone, they keep absorbing water and keep delivering damp to the breast below, whether or not anything is burning.
Chimney work is frequently combined with a re-roof or roof repair while access is already in place, which saves a second set-up and a second visit.
Where we work
Covering Bookham
and the towns around it
We are based at The Manse, Eastwick Road, Bookham, Surrey and work across these Surrey towns and villages.
- Chimney Work in Bookham
- Chimney Work in Great Bookham
- Chimney Work in Leatherhead
- Chimney Work in Fetcham
- Chimney Work in Effingham
- Chimney Work in Ashtead
- Chimney Work in Epsom
- Chimney Work in Cobham
- Chimney Work in East Horsley
- Chimney Work in West Horsley
- Chimney Work in Shalford
- Chimney Work in Woking
- Chimney Work in Guildford
Not sure whether you are in range? Call 07877 013968 and we will tell you straight away.
Related work
Often done at the same time
See every roofing service we offer or go back to the homepage.
Questions
Straight answers
before you commit
Anything not covered here, ask Matt directly on 07877 013968.
How much does chimney repointing or repair cost in Surrey?
It depends on the size and height of the stack, how much pointing and brickwork is involved, whether flaunching, pots or leadwork are needed and the access required. Matt inspects the stack and gives an itemised written quote covering each element.
How long does chimney work take?
Repointing a domestic stack, renewing flaunching or fitting pots is usually a short job of a day or two once access is set up. Brickwork replacement or a partial rebuild takes longer, and the timescale is given before booking.
Is chimney work guaranteed?
Yes: chimney and leadwork carries a 10 year workmanship guarantee, confirmed in writing when the job is complete.
How long does repointing last?
Done properly (joints raked back to sound mortar and refilled with a suitable mix) repointing on a stack lasts many years, which is why our workmanship guarantee runs to 10 years. Skimming over failed mortar, by contrast, fails quickly.
Why is my chimney breast damp when the roof is fine?
Usually because water is entering through the stack itself: failed pointing, cracked flaunching, spalled brickwork or split lead flashings and back gutter. The roof covering can be perfectly sound while the chimney is soaking.
Do I need scaffolding for chimney work?
Work at stack height needs proper safe access, and where that is required it is included and priced in the written quote rather than added as an extra later.
Can you remove or cap a chimney I no longer use?
We can deal with disused stacks, including capping with proper ventilation so the brickwork can still dry out. Matt will talk through the options for your stack when he sees it.
Do you deal with the leadwork around the chimney too?
Yes. Aprons, step flashings, soakers and the back gutter are part of the same detail, and doing them together is the only way to be sure the leak has actually stopped.
Can chimney work be done during a re-roof?
Yes, and it is the sensible time. Access is already in place, so pointing, flaunching, pots and lead can all be dealt with in one visit.
Which areas do you cover?
We are based in Bookham and cover Great and Little Bookham, Leatherhead, Fetcham, Effingham, Ashtead, Epsom, Cobham, East and West Horsley, Shalford, Woking and Guildford.
Next step
Get the stack looked atbefore frost does
Send the form and Matt will assess the whole chimney (pointing, brickwork, flaunching, pots and lead) and put a detailed quote in writing. To describe it over the phone, calling is quicker.
Call 07877 013968The Manse, Eastwick Road, Bookham, Surrey, KT23 3BE
Mon–Sat 8am–6:30pm · Sun 9am–4pm