Chimney Repairs and Leadwork in Newark

A chimney is the part of a roof that takes the most weather and gets the least attention. When it starts to fail, the first sign is often a damp patch on a bedroom ceiling or chimney breast, well away from where the water is actually getting in. Our chimney repairs in Newark put that right at the source: worn pointing, cracked flaunching, loose pots and tired lead flashing.

Will Hartley has been working on roofs and chimneys for over 20 years. We repair, rebuild and remove chimney stacks on homes and commercial buildings across Newark-on-Trent, the surrounding villages and wider Nottinghamshire, and every job starts with a free, no-obligation quote.

Why chimneys cause so many roof leaks

A chimney stack is brickwork poking straight up through the roof, exposed on every side. Four weak points let water in:

• Flashing. The lead that seals the joint between the stack and the roof tiles. If it lifts, splits or the mortar holding it in the brickwork falls out, rain runs straight down the side of the stack and into the loft.
• Pointing. The mortar between the bricks. Once it crumbles, rain soaks into the brickwork and comes through inside as damp on the chimney breast.
• Flaunching. The sloped mortar cap on top of the stack that holds the pots in place and sheds water. When it cracks, water gets into the top of the stack and the pots can work loose.
• Pots and flues. Broken or loose pots are a hazard in high winds, and open flues on unused chimneys let rain fall straight down inside.

A leak around the stack is very often put down to the tiles, and the roof gets patched while the chimney carries on letting water in. When we look at a chimney, we check all four and tell you plainly which one is causing the problem. If the leak turns out to be elsewhere on the roof, our roof repairs page explains how we trace it.

Chimney repointing and restoration

Repointing is one of the most common chimney repairs. We rake out the old, failing mortar to a sound depth and repoint the brickwork, so rain runs off the face of the stack instead of soaking in. Where individual bricks have cracked or blown, we cut them out and replace them.

On top of the stack, we remove cracked flaunching, re-set loose chimney pots and re-flaunch in fresh mortar, sloped so water runs away from the pots. If a flue is no longer in use, we can talk you through ways to keep rain out of it while still letting the chimney breathe.

A chimney in good condition can last for decades. Catching failing pointing early is far cheaper than rebuilding a stack that has been soaking up water for years.

Lead flashing and leadwork in Newark

Lead flashing is what keeps the join between your roof and any brickwork watertight: chimney stacks, party walls, dormers and the walls of extensions. A large share of chimney leaks come down to the lead, not the bricks.

We repair and replace:

• Step flashing and soakers up the sides of the chimney, where each piece of lead is tucked into the brickwork and laid under the tiles in steps.
• Front aprons and back gutters (sometimes called back trays), where the stack meets the slope of the roof above and below.
• Chimney trays built into the stack to stop water tracking down through the brickwork.
• Flashing on walls, dormers and extensions where a roof meets the side of the house.

Old lead that has split, lifted or been patched with mastic rarely stays watertight for long. We dress new lead to fit the roof properly and fix it into the mortar joints, so it moves with the building rather than pulling away. If your chimney is being taken down during a new roof or re-roof, the leadwork and making good are dealt with as part of that job.

Rebuilding or removing a chimney

When a stack is leaning, badly cracked or has lost a lot of its mortar, repointing is no longer enough and it needs taking down and rebuilding. We take it down to sound brickwork, rebuild it, fit new flashing and re-set or replace the pots.

If you no longer use the chimney, removing it can be a better option than paying to maintain it. We can take a stack down below the roof line and make good the roof with matching tiles or slates and felt, so there is no gap and no leftover weak point for water. Removing the stack above the roof is a roofing job. If you also want the chimney breast inside the house taken out, that is structural work: it must be properly supported and needs building regulations approval, and where the chimney is shared with a neighbour, the Party Wall Act may apply. We will explain what is involved before any work starts.

We are roofers rather than chimney sweeps, so we do not sweep flues. We look after everything on the outside of the stack and where it meets your roof.

After a storm

High winds are hard on chimneys. Pots get blown off, loose bricks come away and flashing lifts. If your stack is leaning, you can see missing bricks or a pot is hanging loose, keep people away from that side of the house and call us straight away. Our emergency roofing service is there to make an unsafe chimney safe first, then we come back to repair it properly.

Chimney repairs in Newark and Nottinghamshire

We are based in Balderton and carry out chimney repairs across Newark-on-Trent and the surrounding villages, and further afield in Nottinghamshire, Lincolnshire, Leicestershire and Cambridgeshire, including Peterborough. We are fully insured, and our work carries guarantees of up to 10 years depending on the job, confirmed in writing on your quote.

Have a look at some of our recent roofing projects to see the standard of work. When you are ready, call 01636 499231 or send us the details and a photo of your chimney for a free quote on chimney repairs or leadwork.