Damp by the chimney

• A tile or slate higher up. Water gets under the covering, lands on the felt, and travels down to the chimney. The felt is doing its job. The weak point is where it meets the stack.
• Lead lifted or split. The apron at the front, the step flashing up the sides, or the soakers under the tiles. The chase mortar fails and the lead creeps out. Wind-driven rain gets behind it.
• Pointing gone. Open joints in the stack let water in. It travels down and appears as a damp patch on the chimney breast.
• Flaunching cracked. The mortar around the pots has weathered. Rain runs into the top of the stack instead of off it.
• Back gutter blocked. Leaves sit behind the chimney. Water has nowhere to go and comes in under the tiles.
• Pots loose or missing a cowl. Rain goes straight down the flue and shows at the fireplace.

The tiles next to the chimney can still be sound. The water arrived from further up. Putting a new tile on at the stack does not stop the leak if the entry is higher, or if the lead or the pointing is the problem.

We look at the lead, the pointing, the flaunching, the pots and the tiles higher up the slope before we price anything. A local repair is usually enough: put the lead back or renew the failed section, repoint the open joints, or re-flaunch around the pots. A full stack rebuild is only the job when the brickwork has gone soft or the stack is leaning. You get the price before any work starts.

Chimney repairs →Leadwork & valleys →

Do not go on the roof. Photograph the stain and any tiles on the ground. Call 07930 618151 and say the damp is by the chimney and which room it is in. If the water is near a light, leave that fitting alone.

Berkshire, Surrey, north Hampshire, Buckinghamshire and Slough, Oxfordshire and west London, including Reading, Wokingham, Ascot, Windsor, Camberley, Farnborough, Slough, Henley-on-Thames, Oxford, Staines and Hounslow.