The chimney is the highest, most exposed part of your house and the one nobody ever looks at. Out of sight, out of mind, right up until water starts coming through a bedroom ceiling or a lump of masonry lands in the garden. Because it catches wind and rain from every direction, a chimney wears out faster than the walls below it, and up here it takes a proper beating through the winter.
What goes wrong up there
The problems are nearly always the same, and they get worse the longer they are left.
- Worn out pointing between the bricks, letting water into the stack - Cracked or missing flaunching, the mortar bed that holds the chimney pots in place - Failed flashing, the lead work where the chimney meets the roof, which is the number one cause of leaks - Spalling bricks, where frost has blown the face off the brickwork - A leaning stack, usually from years of one sided weathering breaking down the mortar - Damaged or missing chimney pots and cowls
Why a leaking chimney is sneaky
The trouble with chimney faults is where the damage shows up. Water gets in at the top or through the flashing, then travels down inside the structure and appears as a stain on a ceiling or a damp patch on a chimney breast, often a fair distance from where it actually got in. People chase the damp patch and never think to look at the roofline. Meanwhile the water is quietly rotting timbers and soaking into the brickwork. A chimney fault caught early is a small job. Left for years it can mean rebuilding the whole stack.
The jobs we do most
Repointing the stack is the common one, raking out the old mortar and replacing it so the water is kept out again. Renewing the flaunching to make the pots secure. Replacing the lead flashing properly, which is a skilled job and the bit cheap firms tend to botch with a smear of sealant that fails within a year. Rebuilding the top few courses where frost has done its worst. And where a chimney is genuinely past it, or no longer used, taking it down safely and making the roof good, which some people choose to do to be rid of the maintenance for good.
Getting it done safely
Chimney work means working at height, so it is not a job to be leaning off a ladder for. We set up proper scaffold access so the work can be done safely and done right, which also means we can actually take our time and make a proper job of it rather than rushing because we are balanced three storeys up.
We repair, repoint and rebuild chimneys across the North East, and we will always tell you honestly whether yours needs a small repair or something bigger. If you have got a damp patch on a chimney breast, crumbling mortar you can see from the ground, or a stack that looks like it is leaning, get us out for a look before the winter makes it worse.
Keystone Construction Group. Safe work at height, honest advice. Call 07587885335 or visit keystone.abacusai.app.
Got a project in mind?
Have a chat with us about your build. No pushy sales, just honest advice from a team that knows the North East.
