Chimney repairs and rebuilds in Bourne

Walk down North Street or West Street in Bourne and look up. The Victorian terraces carry their chimneys in rows, often one stack shared between two houses, built for coal fires and now doing little except standing in the weather. Most of them are fine. The ones that are not usually tell you with a damp patch on a chimney breast, a crack in the brickwork or a piece of pot in the yard.

Shared stacks on the terraces

On a shared stack, your half and your neighbour's half stand or fall together. If the joints have gone on their side, repointing only yours will not keep the water out for long. We look at the whole stack, photograph both sides and explain what we see, so you can talk it over next door with the pictures in hand. Where a stack only needs repointing we say so. Where the brick faces have blown or it has started to lean, a rebuild is the right answer.

Stone, old brick and the newer estates

Around the Abbey Church the older houses have chimneys in stone or old brick, and a repair there needs materials matched to what is already up there. On the newer estates chimneys are fewer and younger, and the trouble is more often the flashing than the stack. Wherever the house is, the lead is often the real leak: soakers, step flashing and the apron at the front. We renew failed lead properly, in lead, so the fix lasts.

Repaired, rebuilt or taken down

We have taken a chimney down and rebuilt it for one customer, and repaired another with new lead. Both started the same way: a look, photographs, and a price in writing. If a stack serves no purpose and keeps letting water in, removing it and making good the roof is worth weighing up, and we will set the options out side by side. Ring 01778 775043. Chimney work is guaranteed for five or ten years depending on the job, and we carry public liability and employer's liability insurance on every job.