Chimney Surveys
A chimney stack photographed from level with it, not squinted at from the ground. Pots, flaunching, brickwork, flashings and the state of the mortar, all in one visit.
A chimney stack photographed from level with it, not squinted at from the ground. Pots, flaunching, brickwork, flashings and the state of the mortar, all in one visit.
What it shows
- Cracked, loose or missing flaunching
- Cracked, chipped or displaced pots and cowls
- Perished, missing or eroded mortar joints
- Spalled, cracked or loose brickwork and stonework
- Failed, lifted or slipped lead flashings, soakers and back gutters
- Leaning or out-of-plumb stacks
- Vegetation and moss growth
- Staining and evidence of water tracking down the stack
- The condition of the roof junction around the stack
Save time and money on a chimney — answer the question without scaffolding the stack.
Get in touchThe most likely cause, and the hardest to see
When a survey turns up damp on a chimney breast, the cause is nearly always at the top of the stack — cracked flaunching, perished mortar, a failed flashing or a pot that has shifted. All of it is thirty feet up and none of it is visible from the ground.
The traditional options are a ladder to the eaves, which does not get you to the stack, or scaffold, which costs more than most stack repairs. So the caveat goes in the report — "inaccessible at the time of inspection" — and the question stays open.
Photographing the stack from level, on every face, and looking down onto the flaunching and pots from above, closes it. It takes half an hour and it answers the question the survey could not.
What you get
Save Time And Money On A Chimney Inspection
Scaffolding a chimney stack routinely costs more than repointing it. That is why so many surveys carry the phrase inaccessible at the time of inspection against the one element most likely to be causing the damp.
Half an hour in the air answers it instead — every face of the stack from level with it, and the flaunching and pots from directly above, which is the view nobody ever gets.
A survey covers:
- Flaunching, pots, cowls and cappings
- Mortar joints, pointing and brickwork
- Lead flashings, soakers and back gutters
- The roof junction and tiles either side
- Leaning, movement and previous repairs
- Vegetation, staining and water tracking
A Straight Answer For A Builder To Price From
The point of the exercise is a decision: repoint, rebuild above the roofline, or take it down. That decision needs clear photographs of every face, not a guess from the pavement with binoculars.
What comes back is detailed enough for a builder or roofer to quote from without attending, which saves a visit at each end — theirs and ours.
This is an external survey. A flue needs a chimney camera on a rod, which is a different trade and a different job, and we will tell you so rather than take the work.
Who asks for it
- Roofers and chimney specialists
- Homeowners and buyers
- Surveyors following up an inaccessible-area caveat
What clients get from working with us
Timescales
Most sites are surveyed within two working days of instruction, with reports sent 24 hours after surveys.
Deliverables
Orthomosaics, 3D models, point clouds, elevation sets and edited media, supplied in the formats your team already works in.
Coverage
Operating throughout the East and West Midlands, Yorkshire and East Anglia.
Compliance
Fully authorised and insured, with a site-specific risk assessment issued before every attendance.
Continuity
One point of contact from enquiry to delivery. Data is processed in-house and is never passed to a third-party bureau.
Certainty
A fixed written quotation against an agreed deliverable. No day rates and no variation after the event.
Questions
Can you tell me if it needs rebuilding?
We can show you exactly what condition it is in. Whether it needs repointing, rebuilding above the roofline or taking down is a builder's or surveyor's judgement, and the imagery is there for them to make it from.
Can you look down the flue?
No. This is an external survey. A flue needs a chimney camera on a rod, which is a different job and a different trade.
Do you need to go on the roof?
No. Everything is captured from the air at a standoff, so nobody works at height and nothing needs scaffolding, a tower or a MEWP.
What happens if the weather is wrong on the day?
We move it. Wind and rain make for unsafe flying and soft, unusable pictures, and a survey you cannot rely on is worse than no survey. We watch the forecast and give you as much notice as we can.
Is it legal to fly over my property?
Yes, within the rules. We hold a CAA Operational Authorisation and every flight is planned against the airspace, the surroundings and the people on and around the site before we attend. If a site needs a permission we cannot get, we tell you at enquiry rather than on the day.
Tell us about the site and we will take it from there
A site postcode and a sentence about what you need is enough to get started.
Get in touch
Provide a site postcode or boundary and a short description of the required output. We will confirm the deliverables, level of detail.
- A site postcode is sufficient to price most instructions
- Written quotation, in most cases the same working day
- Deliverables and formats agreed at instruction
info@midlandsaerialsurveys.co.uk
Stamford, Lincolnshire