Roof Repairs & Emergencies
Chimney repairs, repointing and rebuilding
A chimney takes weather on every face and has no roof over it. When damp appears in an upstairs room or a chimney breast, the stack and its flashings are the first place to look.
- 24/7 emergency line
- Free written quotations
- Fully insured work
24/7
Emergency roofing response across Cumbria and the Borders, answered day and night.
Chimney Repairs & Repointing: the short answer
Chimney repair covers repointing, rebuilding, flaunching, pot and cowl work and the lead flashings that seal the stack to the roof. Chimneys are the most weather-exposed masonry on a building and a very common source of damp attributed to the roof.
Who this is for
- Owners with damp on a chimney breast or in the room below the stack
- Anyone whose survey has flagged eroded pointing or a leaning stack
- Properties with a disused chimney that needs capping or removing safely
- Heritage and stone-built properties needing lime-appropriate work
Signs you need this work
Damp staining on a chimney breast
Often worse after prolonged rain and typically the first symptom noticed.
Eroded or missing pointing
Open joints let water into the core of the stack, where it can travel a long way.
Cracked flaunching
The mortar bed holding the pots. Once it cracks, water enters straight down the stack.
Lifted or corroded flashing
The lead apron, soakers and stepped flashing are the seal between stack and roof.
A visible lean or bulge
Structural movement in a stack is a safety matter, not a maintenance one.
Your options
Repointing
Raking out and repointing in a mortar matched to the masonry — lime where the building requires it.
Reflaunching and pot work
Renewing the flaunching, refitting or replacing pots, fitting cowls or vented caps.
Partial or full rebuild
Taking the stack down to sound masonry and rebuilding, reusing original stone or brick where possible.
Flashing renewal
New milled lead apron, soakers, stepped flashing and back gutter, correctly welted and clipped.
Capping or removal
Disused stacks capped with ventilation, or removed and the roof made good.
Helpful roofing advice
Independent guidance from our advice centre — what the symptoms may mean and what your options are, before you commit to any work.
How it works
Our process, step by step
Inspect stack and flashings
From the roof and, where useful, by drone for the upper courses and pots.
Establish the water path
Stack core, flaunching, pointing or flashing — the fix differs for each.
Specify the mortar
Lime or cement-based, matched to the existing masonry so the repair does not damage the stone.
Access and scaffold
Chimney work almost always requires proper scaffold access.
Carry out and finish
Work completed, ventilation maintained, and the roof made good around the stack.
Why it matters
What you get from doing it properly
Damp resolved at source
Internal replastering is wasted money while the stack is still taking water.
Correct mortar specification
Hard cement on soft stone causes damage; we match the mortar to the building.
Flashings done in lead
Not sealant, not mortar fillets — properly formed lead with the correct laps.
Common questions
Related
Work that often goes with this
Leadwork & Lead Flashings
Roofing leadwork covers flashings, soakers, aprons, back gutters, lead valleys and bay roofs. Lead is used at every junction where a roof meets something else, and correctly formed lead detailing is the difference between a junction that lasts fifty years and one that leaks in five.
Heritage & Traditional Roofing
Heritage roofing is the repair and renewal of roofs on listed, historic and traditionally built properties using materials and techniques appropriate to the original construction — natural slate and stone slate, lime mortar, traditional leadwork and hand-formed detailing — and carried out within the consents the building's status requires.
Roof Repairs
Planned roof repair fixes an identified defect — slipped slates, cracked tiles, failed flashings, valley or ridge problems — before it becomes water ingress. Repairs are appropriate where the covering and structure are otherwise sound and the fault is localised.
Roof Surveys & Condition Reports
A roof survey is a documented assessment of a roof's condition, remaining service life and defects, delivered as a written report with photographs and prioritised recommendations. It is used for property purchases, planned maintenance budgeting, insurance, dilapidations and settling disagreements about whether a roof needs replacing.
Coverage
Chimney Repairs & Repointing across our patch
Carlisle and north Cumbria are our core area. We work regularly across the rest of Cumbria and southern Scotland, and take planned projects further afield.
Not sure what your roof needs?
Tell us what you are seeing and we will tell you honestly whether it is a repair, a maintenance job or something that needs replacing. Consultations and written quotations are free.