The short answer
Yes. A proper roof inspection covers the chimney, because the stack is one of the likeliest places for water to get in. We look at the brickwork and pointing, the pots, the flaunching, a sloping mortar cap that grips the pots and drains the top, and the lead flashings where the stack meets the slope, then check the breast from the loft.
A chimney is part of the roof, and it fails in its own ways. This is what gets checked, from the pot at the top down to the loft.
The stack, its pointing and the pots
The stack is the brick column standing proud of the roof, and every face of it meets the weather. On the inspection we look at the brickwork for cracked or crumbling bricks and at the pointing, the mortar filling the joints, for gaps that let rain soak in. Pointing wears faster than the brick, so a stack can seem sound from the garden while its joints are open.
What about the chimney pots?
Pots are checked for cracks, for a lean and for bedding that has loosened. A pot that moves in the wind can break away, and a cracked pot lets water run down the flue. If the flue is capped or a pot is missing, we note that too, because an open flue takes rain straight down into the breast.
Repointing a stack is a known job, with a typical UK range of £450 to £1,200 (MyJobQuote, Oct 2026). Height, access and the spread of the damage push the figure up or down, and we only know those once we have been up and photographed the stack ourselves.
Flaunching: the mortar cap that does the quiet work
Flaunching is the sloping mortar layer across the top of the stack. It grips each pot in place and steers rain away from the flues. It takes a battering, and over the years it cracks, shrinks away from the pots or crumbles.
How do you know the flaunching has failed?
From the ground you may see nothing. Up close the signs are hairline cracks running around a pot, a gap between pot and mortar, or crumbs of mortar lying in the gutter below. Once water gets under the flaunching it runs into the stack and down through the masonry, which is why a stain on a bedroom chimney breast can start with a crack right at the top.
Replacing flaunching is quick work once the access is up, but the price turns on how big the stack is, how many pots it carries and what access is needed to get at them. Where a stack also leans or has lost bricks, the photos show it and we explain what a repair can fix and what it cannot. A hairline crack and a failing stack call for very different answers, and a small extra check at the top often settles which one you have.
Flashings where the stack meets the roof
Flashings are the lead strips that seal the joint between the chimney and the roof covering. On most stacks they work in layers: a front apron, side flashings stepped into the brick joints, and a back gutter behind the stack where water collects before it runs round. Lead can last for over 80 years (MyJobQuote, Sep 2026), but the joints and pointing that hold it often fail first.
What do we check on the lead?
We look for lifted edges, splits at the folds, lead pulled out of the brickwork and mortar fillets used in place of proper flashing. A mortar fillet is a sloping bead of cement that cracks as roof and stack move, and it is a familiar source of leaks around chimneys.
Patch repairs to chimney leadwork run from £150 to £250 and a full replacement from £350 to £920 as typical UK ranges, with scaffold the main swing factor (MyJobQuote, Sep 2026). Whether a patch is enough depends on the state of the lead, and you see the photos before anyone suggests one or the other.
Inside the loft and what to do about a leaning stack
The inspection carries on indoors, because the loft shows what the roof cannot. We look at the chimney breast for damp patches and tide marks, at the timbers nearby for staining, and at the ceiling below for signs that water has travelled.
Can a chimney be a danger?
Sometimes. Somerset Building Control names unstable chimneys among the hazards it deals with, and the owner is the one who pays to put a dangerous building right. If a stack is leaning or shedding brick, you hear about it straight away, and the area underneath is made safe.
Taking down a chimney breast is a separate decision. Removing a chimney breast always brings Building Regulations approval into play, and a breast on a party wall adds neighbour notice rules. For repairs that stop at the roof, the next step is a visit.
Our roof inspection report guide and the answer on checking a roof from the loft explain how findings are written up, and the roof inspections page shows how to book. Send a photo of your stack from the garden and we will tell you what the visit involves.
More on chimney checks
Can you inspect a chimney that is no longer in use?
Yes. A capped or disused stack still has pointing, flaunching and flashings that let water in, and nobody tends to look at a flue that has gone quiet. We check the outside and the breast in the loft, and tell you whether the stack is worth keeping, repairing or taking down.
Do you need scaffolding to look at the chimney?
Not for the survey. We can reach a stack from the roof with proper access and photograph it close up. Repair work to a tall stack may need scaffold or a tower, and if it stands over the highway, the highway licence is something we arrange alongside the scaffolder.
The full picture: Roof inspections in Taunton · More short answers