Chimney repairs in Northampton

Northampton's Victorian terraces were built when every room had a fire, so most houses carry a substantial stack, very often shared with the house next door. A century and more of weather, and decades standing unused since central heating arrived, leave plenty of them needing attention. A neglected stack is not only a leak risk. Loose bricks and pots are a danger to the pavement below.

What we look at

• Open or crumbling mortar joints, worst on the side that takes the weather
• Cracked mortar around the base of the pots
• Pots that are loose, cracked or uncapped
• Lead flashing torn, lifted or slipping out of its joint
• Any lean in the stack
• Damp and staining in the loft around the chimney breast

Repairs we carry out

Repointing

Raking out failed joints and repointing so the brickwork sheds water again.

Rebuilding

Where a stack is cracked, leaning or the brick has perished, we take it down to sound brickwork and rebuild it.

Lead flashing

New Code 4 lead with step flashing dressed into the joints, and a back gutter where the stack sits across the slope.

Flue inspections

Checking a flue before you bring an old fireplace back into use.

Shared stacks

When a stack straddles two houses, the repair often has to cover both halves to work. We show you in photos where the line falls and what each side needs, so you can talk to your neighbour with the facts in hand.

Taking a stack down

If you never use the chimney, removing the stack and slating over can end the upkeep for good. We do that too, and we will tell you honestly whether it is worth it. On a shared stack it needs your neighbour's agreement too.

Before you book

Tell us whether the chimney is in use, whether you share it, and where the damp shows. A photo from the street helps us judge the access before we visit. If a stack is shedding bricks after a storm, ring our 24-hour call-out instead of waiting. Northampton is around 40 minutes from our base in Bedford, so we can look properly before we quote.