The short answer
Keep clear of the ground beneath it and do not climb up to test it. A loose pot can slide or drop, and the next gust may finish the job. Look from a distance, take photos for your records, and have a roofer make it safe. If the pot or stack looks dangerous or sits over a public place, report it to Somerset Building Control.
A pot that rocks after a storm has lost its grip on the mortar beneath it. It is a small part with a long drop.
First steps after the wind drops
A gale can move a pot without taking it off. You may see it tilted against the sky, or find a chip of clay or a handful of grit on the path. Treat either as a sign that something up there has let go, and expect more to follow if the wind returns.
What should you do straight away?
Stay out from under it. Rope off the path, drive or garden below the stack and keep children and pets indoors. Study it from a distance, using binoculars if one is to hand, and take pictures of the angle of the pot and any debris lying about. Check the gutters and the shed roof for fallen pieces too, since chunks of mortar travel further than you would think. Never rest a ladder on the stack, and do not try to shove the pot back into place, because one more movement could bring it down.
If the storm caused the damage, tell your insurer before arranging any work and keep every receipt. Our answer on house insurance and chimney repairs explains what to check in the policy.
Why a chimney pot comes loose
A pot is a clay or metal tube standing on top of the stack, and it gives the flue its outlet. It is held in a sloping collar of mortar called flaunching, which also throws rain off the stack head.
What makes the flaunching fail?
Cracks. Frost, wind and shrinkage open hairline splits in the mortar, rain finds them, and water freezing inside widens them further. Eventually the collar breaks away from the pot and the pot rocks. A strong gust only exposes a weakness that was already there, which is why one pot on a stack of several often goes while its neighbours stay put. The pot that fails is simply the one whose collar had cracked first. The same water can also soften the top courses of brick, so a loose pot deserves a check of the pointing and the flashing, the lead strip around the base of the stack, at the same time.
Our page on chimney flaunching covers the repair in detail. A fresh collar sloped to shed water is often what a loose pot needs, but we only know once we have looked at the whole top of the stack.
Reporting a pot that looks dangerous
Most loose pots are a repair job. A few are a danger to people below, and those are different.
When should you tell the council?
If the pot or stack looks ready to fall, or it hangs over a public pavement, a road or a neighbour's land, contact Somerset Building Control on 0300 303 7790. Its dangerous structures page covers hazards such as falling roof tiles and unstable chimneys, and the team can look at a structure that threatens the public. Reporting it does not replace the repair, but it puts the danger on record with the body that deals with it. Have the address, the position of the stack and a description of what has moved ready when you call, and jot down when you rang.
The owner still needs a roofer. The area is made safe first, which can mean lifting the pot off and setting it aside, and then repaired properly. Weather and access decide when that can happen, and a stack above a pavement may need scaffold, which brings in a highway licence and a wait for the notice period to run. Where the pot is a real danger, the make-safe does not wait for any of that, because a danger overhead is dealt with before the paperwork is.
Making it safe and replacing the pot
A proper repair begins with a look at the whole stack. The pot is the part you can see, but the cause may lie lower down.
What does a roofer do about a loose pot?
We lift the pot off, clear the old flaunching from the stack head, check the brickwork beneath and bed the pot back in fresh mortar, shaped to shed water. If the pot is cracked, we replace it with one that matches the others on the stack as closely as we can. The answer on replacing a chimney pot describes how that goes.
You get pictures of your own stack, a plain account of the findings, and one written price after the survey. Ring 01823 297042, or use the enquiry form and attach a snapshot of the pot, and tell us whether anything has already fallen. The flaunching page and the chimney repairs overview give the wider picture if you want it before you ring.
More on loose pots
Can I put the pot back myself?
We would not advise it. The work is at the top of a stack, usually from a ladder on a sloping roof, and a fall or a dropped pot costs far more than a repair. A roofer sets the pot in fresh flaunching from safe access and checks the flashing at the same visit.
Is a loose pot urgent?
Treat it as urgent if it is moving, sits over a path, drive or road, or the stack is leaning. Keep the area clear and call 01823 297042. A pot that is only slightly loose still needs fresh flaunching before the next strong wind finds it.
The full picture: Chimney repairs in Taunton ยท More short answers