Chimney repairs in Peterborough

Chimneys on Peterborough's older streets

The terraces around the city centre were built when every main room had a fire, so many still carry a stack, often shared with next door. Most aren't used any more, but they still sit on the roof taking every bit of weather. When one starts letting water in, the damp often shows up on a chimney breast or a bedroom ceiling some way from the actual fault.

Where chimney leaks start

• Lead flashing that has split, lifted or simply worn out
• Mortar joints washed out, letting rain soak into the brickwork
• Cracked flaunching, the mortar cap the pots sit in
• Rotten felt and battens round the stack, once water has been getting in for a while

We go up and find which it is, then photograph it so you can see what we see.

What we do about it

New lead flashing

We use Code 4 and Code 5 lead, with step flashing dressed into the brick courses up the sides of the stack and a proper apron across the front. Lead fitted well outlasts any mastic or bodge.

Repointing and flaunching

Worn joints are raked out and repointed, and a cracked flaunching is renewed so water runs off the top instead of into it.

Rebuilding a stack

If a stack is leaning or the brickwork has gone too far, we take it down to sound brick and rebuild it.

Taking a stack down

If you don't use the chimney, removing the stack and tiling over can end the problem for good. We've done this as part of a re-roof. If the stack is shared with next door, we talk that through with you before anything is planned.

Flue checks

We look at the flue as part of the job, so you know its condition before deciding what to keep.

Getting up there without a full scaffold

Not every chimney needs scaffolding round the whole house. On one bungalow we carried out a chimney patch repair from a tower scaffold, which kept the job smaller. We'll tell you what access your stack needs when we quote.

Chimney work carries our written company guarantee, like everything else we do.