Chimney Repointing & Brick Repairs Romford & Havering

Repointing, Brick Repairs & Rebuilding

On a 1920s London stock stack in Romford we found the corbelled head had opened up and sections of brickwork had come away. The cause was the original 600mm terracotta pots — their wider base requires greater corbelling to accommodate them, and once the lime mortar joints fail and water works its way in, those overhanging courses begin to move. The result is large holes and fallen brickwork. It is a pattern we see regularly on properties of that era and it starts with deteriorated mortar, not a structural problem. Once the failed courses are taken down and rebuilt with correctly matched lime mortar, the stack is sound again.

Matching the mortar to the age of the stack is the job before the job. Fletton LBC bricks — the standard brick across Romford and Havering's 1920s and 1930s housing — are relatively soft. Hard Portland cement pressed into Fletton joints does not flex with the stack; over time the brickwork spalls before the mortar does, and the repair becomes significantly more expensive. Lime-based mortar is the correct specification for Victorian and Edwardian work. Sand and cement for 1930s and later. We also use weather struck pointing on exposed chimney work — the profile sheds rainwater away from the joint face rather than holding it at the surface. One other thing worth saying: if the cement and tile fillet at the roof junction is still intact and doing its job, we do not replace it. We do not invent work that is not needed.

Spalling render on a chimney stack becomes a hazard quickly — loosened sections fall, and if there is a drive or path below it is only a matter of time. The ridge platform — a purpose-made aluminium platform that sits across the ridge tiles — lets us carry out crack repairs, render repairs and repointing without erected scaffold on most standard domestic pitches. For jobs at greater height we use rope access: Petzl harness, wire strop anchored to the chimney structure. On genuinely tall stacks we have steeplejack ladder capability as well. Scaffold is arranged where none of these is right for the job — but it is not the default. And on shared chimney stacks it is worth knowing that we sometimes arrange for both homeowners to split the access cost: one visit, both sides repointed.