Service
Chimney Repairs in BathRepointing, Flashingsand Full Rebuilds
Chimneys cause more upstairs damp than any other part of a roof. We find the water path, fix the cause rather than the stain, and price it in writing before starting.
22 years' experience · Owner-led work · £1,000,000 public liability
22 years' experience
Established 2004
Fixed-price quotes
Agreed in writing, not a day rate
£1,000,000 public liability
Insured for your protection
Emergency call-out
Available when a roof cannot wait
Overview
What Chimney Work Covers
A chimney stack is the most exposed masonry on any building. It stands above the roof line taking wind, rain and frost on all four faces, with no roof over it and, in many Bath properties, more than a century of weathering already behind it. Chimney work covers everything that keeps that stack sound: pointing, flaunching, pot bedding, flashings at the roof junction, partial or full rebuild, and capping or removal where a stack is redundant.
Most of the calls we take about chimneys start as internal damp: a stain on a bedroom wall or a chimney breast that never dries. The stack is very often the cause, but the specific defect varies: eroded mortar joints letting water into the masonry, cracked flaunching letting it into the flue, or failed flashing letting it straight through the roof junction.
The important part is identifying which of those is happening, because the fixes are completely different and repointing a stack will not solve a flashing problem.
Who this work is for
- Homeowners with damp on an upstairs wall or chimney breast
- Properties with visibly eroded pointing, leaning stacks or cracked flaunching
- Anyone with a disused stack they want capped, made safe or removed
- Owners whose survey has flagged chimney or flashing defects
- Buildings where mastic has been used at the roof junction instead of lead
What's included
- Chimney repointing and stack rebuilds
- Lead flashing renewal around the stack
- Flaunching and pot re-bedding
- Capping and removal where a stack is redundant
What happens if it is left
The Cost of Waiting Another Winter
Damp from a chimney is persistent, seasonal and easy to misread. It appears in winter, fades in summer, and gets blamed on condensation for years. In the meantime, salts from the flue draw through the plaster, decoration fails repeatedly and the wall never fully dries.
Structurally, an eroded stack does not stay merely untidy. Once joints are open, water saturates the masonry, frost breaks the face off the stone or brick, and the stack loses section. A leaning or spalling stack above a pitched roof is a hazard to the roof below it and to anything on the ground beside it.
Cost escalation here is sharp. Repointing a sound stack is straightforward work. Rebuilding a stack that has lost its structural integrity means taking it down course by course, rebuilding in matching material, re-bedding pots, renewing flaunching and re-forming all the lead, with access to match. Waiting is the expensive option.
Common mistakes we are called in to undo
- Treating chimney-breast damp as condensation for several winters
- Sealing a cement fillet at the roof junction instead of forming proper lead flashings
- Applying waterproof coating over saturated masonry so it cannot dry out
- Capping a stack without ventilation, which traps moisture in the flue
- Repointing a stack whose real problem is failed flaunching or a cracked pot
Our process
How the Job Runs, Start to Finish
The same sequence on every job, so you always know what happens next and what it costs before it happens.
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Step 1
Inspection
We examine the stack at close quarters: pointing, flaunching, pots, the flashing junction and the internal evidence where visible.
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Step 2
Diagnosis
We establish which water path is causing the damp, masonry, flue or roof junction, and explain it plainly.
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Step 3
Fixed written price
Access, masonry work, leadwork and finishing all set out in one written price before anything begins.
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Step 4
Repair or rebuild
Joints raked and repointed, flaunching renewed, pots re-bedded, stepped and apron flashings formed in lead, or the stack rebuilt where needed.
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Step 5
Weathertight check
Junctions checked, debris cleared from the roof and gutters, and the finished work explained to you.
What you get
Why This Work Is Worth Doing Properly
Damp traced to source
The specific water path is identified, so the repair addresses the cause rather than the symptom.
Stack made structurally sound
Open joints and spalled masonry are dealt with before the stack loses section.
Lead, not mastic
Roof junctions are formed in properly dressed lead so they survive more than a couple of winters.
Decoration finally holds
Once the water stops, internal walls dry and redecoration stops failing.
Fixed written price
The full scope, access, masonry, lead and making good, priced before work starts.
Fully insured
£1,000,000 public liability cover on every job.
In detail
Chimney work: Materials, Methods and Variations
The specifics that decide whether the work lasts, written out so you can judge any quote you receive, including ours.
Repointing and Stack Rebuilds
Repointing a stack means raking joints back to a sound depth and refilling with a mortar appropriate to the masonry, softer lime-based mixes on older Bath stone, so the mortar weathers rather than the stone. Hard cement pointing on soft stone traps moisture in the masonry and accelerates the damage it was meant to prevent.
Where a stack has lost too much section, leans, or has open joints through its full thickness, a rebuild is the honest answer. Rebuilds are taken down in courses, with pots and any usable stone or brick set aside for reuse where they match, and rebuilt with proper trays and flashings reinstated.
Flaunching, Pots and Capping
Flaunching is the mortar weathering on the top of the stack that holds the pots and sheds water. It cracks with age, and once it does water enters the stack directly from above. Renewing flaunching and re-bedding pots is common, relatively contained work that prevents a much larger problem.
Disused stacks can be capped rather than rebuilt, but a capped flue still needs to breathe. We fit ventilated caps so the flue does not become a sealed damp reservoir, and remove stacks entirely where a homeowner has decided the chimney has no future use.
Lead Flashings at the Roof Junction
Where the stack passes through the roof, water is kept out by a set of lead components: a front apron, stepped flashings and soakers up the sides, and a back gutter behind the stack. Each has a job, and the back gutter: from the ground, is the one that most often fails and the hardest to bodge convincingly.
Cement fillets are the traditional shortcut and a common find on Bath roofs. They crack because mortar cannot accommodate the movement between stack and roof. We remove them and form the junction properly in lead, chased into the masonry joints and wedged, so movement is accommodated rather than resisted.
- Front apron dressed over the covering
- Stepped flashings and soakers to each side
- Back gutter behind the stack with correct upstand
- Cavity or DPC tray where the construction requires one
Period Property Considerations
Bath, Bradford-on-Avon and Frome are full of tall, slender Georgian and Victorian stacks in soft local stone, often on steep slate roofs with restricted access. These stacks reward a light hand: matching materials, breathable mortars and minimum intervention.
We will always tell you where a stack needs only its flaunching and flashings rather than the full rebuild it might look like it needs from the ground.
Questions
Cost, Timescales and Guarantees
The questions we are asked most often, answered straight.
My upstairs wall is damp near the chimney breast: is that the roof?
Frequently it is failed flashing or eroded flaunching. An inspection confirms the source before anything is quoted, because masonry, flue and flashing defects need different repairs.
How much do chimney repairs cost?
It ranges widely between repointing, flaunching renewal, flashing work and a full rebuild. We inspect, tell you which you actually need, and price it as one fixed written figure.
Do I need scaffolding for chimney work?
Often yes for rebuilds and larger repairs, because working safely at a stack needs proper access. Any access cost is assessed at inspection and included in the written price.
How long does a chimney rebuild take?
It depends on stack size, access and weather. We give a realistic timescale with the quote rather than an optimistic one.
Can you cap or remove a chimney I no longer use?
Yes. We cap redundant stacks with ventilated caps so the flue can still breathe, or remove them entirely and make the roof good where that is what you want.
Why does my chimney leak only in driving rain?
That pattern usually points to open joints on the exposed face of the stack, or a flashing that only fails under wind-driven water. Both are identifiable at inspection.
Is repointing enough or does the stack need rebuilding?
If the masonry has kept its section and the stack is plumb, repointing is usually enough. Leaning, spalling or joints open through the thickness point to a rebuild, and we will show you why.
Do you renew the lead flashings as part of the work?
Where the flashings are the cause or are close to failure, yes, and we form them in lead rather than filling the junction with mortar or mastic.
Do you carry out chimney work outside Bath?
Yes, including Bristol, Frome, Bradford-on-Avon, Trowbridge, Radstock, Midsomer Norton, Keynsham and Saltford.
Related roofing services
- LeadworkProperly formed lead flashings, valleys and soakers: the detail that decides whether a roof leaks.
- Ridge/verge repointingCracked and hollow mortar raked out and repointed so ridge and verge tiles stay put.
- Roof repairsLeaks traced, slipped tiles reset and weak areas made watertight, repaired properly rather than patched.
- All roofing servicesEvery service we carry out across Bath and Bristol.
Get a Fixed Price for Chimney work in Bath
Inspection first, written fixed price second, no work started until you have agreed it. 22 years' experience, £1,000,000 public liability. Call Luke Watts on 07735 894962 or send the details and we will arrange a look at the roof.