Chimneys and lead work, done by hand

The leak is almost always the lead

You have a damp patch on a bedroom ceiling, or a brown stain spreading down the chimney breast, and someone has told you the chimney needs “looking at.” They are usually right, and the fault is usually the lead.

Where a chimney passes through the roof, the only thing keeping water out is the flashing around it. On most older Cheshire houses that flashing has been done one of two ways: a strip of mortar smeared into the joint, or a thin piece of lead bedded in and forgotten. Both fail. Mortar is rigid and the brickwork expands and contracts with the weather, so the bond cracks. Thin or badly dressed lead lifts at the edges and lets water track straight down the stack.

Sealant and a fresh smear of mortar will hold it for a season. Then you are back where you started, with a bigger stain and a longer repair.

Lead done by a certified lead welder

Lead work is a trade in its own right. Done properly it is the longest-lasting flashing material there is. Done badly it is the first thing to leak.

Our lead is fitted by a certified lead welder, qualified through the Master Roofers Academy. That means:

• Code 4 and Code 5 lead, sized to the job, not the thinnest roll on the van.
• Dressed by hand into the brick courses with the right tools, so it sits tight to the masonry and sheds water instead of pooling it.
• Welded at the joints and corners, not folded and hoped. Welded lead is one continuous piece of metal where it matters, with no overlap for water to creep under.
• Stepped into the brickwork on the up-slope sides and properly aproned on the front, the way it is meant to be done.

Lead fitted this way moves with the chimney instead of fighting it. It outlives the mortar around it and, on a lot of jobs, outlives the rest of the roof.

Chimney rebuilds and repointing

The lead is only half of it. The brickwork above the roofline takes the worst of the weather, and on older stacks the mortar gives up first.

We handle the masonry as well, with the same in-house team:

• Repointing crumbling and washed-out joints with the right mortar mix, so the stack is solid again rather than papered over.
• Rebuilding stacks that are leaning, spalling or open at the top, brick by brick, matching the existing where it shows.
• Re-flaunching the cement bed around the pots so rain runs off instead of sitting and soaking in.
• Capping or removing redundant stacks that no longer earn their place but are still letting water in.

Because the lead and the brickwork are done by the same crew on the same visit, there is no second trade to book, no gap in the work, and nobody to point the finger when something is missed. One team, one job, one set of before and after photos.

We are not the cheapest, and that is the point

You can get a chimney “sorted” cheaply. Someone will smear mortar over the flashing, charge you for an afternoon, and be gone. The homeowners who call us are not looking for that. They are looking for the stack to be dry in five years without another invoice.

That is what the certified lead work, the proper masonry and the workmanship guarantee are for. We price the scaffold and the access in up front, we show you the drone survey before we start and the before and after photos when we finish, and we put the guarantee in writing. No surprises on the invoice, no callbacks two winters later.

Every job is done by our own fully insured team. We do not subcontract the lead to whoever is free that week. We are the most-reviewed roofer in Middlewich, and every one of those reviews is five stars.

What happens when you call

1. Drone survey first. We get eyes on the top of the stack, the flashing and the flaunching without touching anything, and you see the same footage we do.
2. A clear price. Lead, masonry, scaffold and access, written down, with the guarantee length stated.
3. The work. Failed lead stripped off and replaced, mortar repointed or the stack rebuilt, all by the in-house team.
4. Proof. Before and after photos of the stripped stack and the finished lead, so you can see exactly what you paid for.

Get the chimney sorted properly

If your chimney is staining a ceiling, leaking in driving rain, or just looks tired against the rest of the roof, get it surveyed before the next big storm makes it worse.

Call 01606 537305 or email middlewichroofing@gmail.com to book a chimney survey across Cheshire and South Manchester. The phone line is answered 24/7.