Chimney leadwork and flashing in Gloucester
Code-graded lead for chimney soakers, back gutters, valleys and abutments — proper leadwork, not a bead of mastic over the problem.
Why damp on a chimney breast is nearly always lead
If you have a stain spreading on an upstairs chimney breast, the odds are the lead around the stack has failed or was never there in the first place. A great deal of Gloucester housing still has stacks, in use or capped, and the detail where the brickwork meets the roof is the hardest-working joint on the whole building. It takes wind-driven rain off the south-west square on, and it moves as the stack and the roof expand at different rates.
The classic bodge is a cement fillet: a wedge of mortar run around the base of the stack instead of lead. It looks tidy for a few years, then cracks along its length, and every crack funnels water straight into the masonry. We cut those out and replace them with lead done properly.
The leadwork we carry out
- Chimney flashings – front apron, side soakers, stepped cover flashing and back gutter, dressed and wedged into raked-out joints and repointed.
- Valley gutters – lined in lead where two slopes meet, with proper laps, drips and expansion allowance.
- Abutments – where a roof meets a wall, a neighbouring property or an extension.
- Dormer cheeks and tops – lead cladding and weatherings on dormer windows.
- Parapets and copings – lead cover flashings on parapet walls, common on the older terraces and on commercial frontages in the city centre.
- Soil pipe and vent weatherings – sleeves dressed into the covering rather than sealed with silicone.
Lead codes, and why they matter
Lead comes in codes by thickness — code 4 for most soakers and aprons, code 5 or 6 where the run is longer or more exposed. Undersized lead on a long run buckles and splits at the fixings within a few winters, which is why cheap flashing fails so predictably. We size it to the detail and keep individual pieces to sensible lengths so the metal can move without tearing.
Leadwork is covered by the same 20 year full written guarantee as everything else we fit.
Leadwork as part of a bigger job
When we re-roof a property, the leadwork is renewed as part of the job. There is no sense putting a new covering on and leaving thirty-year-old flashing underneath it. If your chimney is the only problem, though, it is a standalone repair — see roof repairs for the other common causes of a leak.
Damp on a chimney breast?
We will get up, look at the lead and tell you what it needs. Free assessment, fixed written price.
Gloucester Roofing Company 247
Local roofers covering Gloucester GL1–GL4 and around twenty miles beyond, including Cheltenham, Churchdown, Quedgeley, Hardwicke, Tewkesbury, Newent and Stroud.