Chimney Repairs in Birkenhead

Chimneys on both sides of the scale

Terraced streets

Birkenhead’s terraces have brick stacks on the party walls, shared between neighbours, and often a smaller rear stack too. They suffer the familiar faults: lead or cement fillets letting water in at the roof line, flaunching cracking, joints eroding. Repairs are typically flashing, repointing and pot work, often best coordinated with next door.

Large period houses

Larger Victorian houses in parts of Birkenhead have tall stacks with several pots, sometimes with decorative brick details. These need more substantial access and care to keep their character. When the top courses loosen, a partial chimney rebuild using reclaimed original bricks is often the right approach.

Common problems we find in Birkenhead

• Lead flashing that has lifted or split, or been replaced with cement.
• Back gutters behind stacks on the roof slope blocked with moss and debris.
• Pointing washed out on the faces that take the weather.
• Pots loose in cracked flaunching, or missing cowls.
• Disused flues left open, or sealed without any ventilation.

For a plain-English explanation of these and other faults, see our chimney problems guide.

Matching the repair to the house

On a modest terrace, the priority is usually to stop the water quickly and durably, using new lead flashing and repointing where needed. On larger houses, appearance matters as much: matching brick colour, using a mortar that suits the older brick, and keeping original pots. If the house is in a conservation area or listed, check with the council before changing how the chimney looks.

Checks you can safely make yourself

Before you call, a few checks from inside and from the ground help us a great deal. In the loft, look at the brickwork where the stack passes through: is it damp, stained or shedding mortar? In the room below, note whether the damp is near the ceiling or lower on the breast, and whether it follows rain. From the street or garden, use binoculars or a phone camera on zoom to look at the pots, the lead and the top of the stack. Please leave the roof itself to us.

Getting the work done

When you contact us, we call back to hear what you have seen and to ask about the house and any shared stacks. We inspect using the safest suitable method, and send a written quote with photos. Scaffold or a platform is arranged safely, and you get photos of the finished stack once the work is done.

Access tends to be a large part of the cost for big houses, so we try to identify everything at the outset. Our chimney repair cost guide explains the factors.

Across the Wirral and the river

We also work in Wallasey, and across the Mersey in Liverpool. Our homepage has more on our chimney repairs in Liverpool and the Wirral and our wider chimney maintenance and repair work.