Greater London · London and the South East
Chimney Survey in Burnt Oak
A careful look at the chimney stack at your property in Burnt Oak, with photographs and a written report.
- Damp patches on chimney breasts
- Flaunching that has broken away
- A stack that appears to lean
Chimney surveys for homes and businesses in Burnt Oak
For buyers, a chimney survey before exchange can flag work you may want to raise. On older stacks, we often find cracked flaunching, loose flashings and worn pointing. You get photographs and findings you can take back to the seller or agent. It complements a RICS home survey rather than replacing it. We survey brick chimney stacks, flaunching and lead flashings, and the problems we’re asked to look at most are damp on a chimney breast inside and gaps where the stack meets the roof.
London has a great many flats in converted houses and purpose-built blocks, so roofs are often shared between several households. Landlords, managing agents and residents’ companies need to know what condition it is in and what work is coming up, in Burnt Oak as anywhere. A defect on a shared roof can reach more than one flat. With a written report and photographs, everyone can plan from the same facts.
How fast the report arrives depends on the package: Basic within 48 hours, Standard in 24–48 hours and Premium the same day.
- Where
- Burnt Oak (HA8, NW9, NW7)
- Region
- Greater London
- Cost
- From £150 inc. VAT
- Report
- A written report with photos, by email
- Appointments
- Monday to Sunday, daytime
- Insurance
- PI and public liability insurance
- Telephone
- 07833 053749
- Updated
- 27 October 2026
Different roofs, different checks
Rendered stacks
What’s behind the render can’t be seen without removing some, so the report explains what we could and couldn’t assess.
Chimney pots and cowls
A loose or cracked pot can fall from height. We record their condition with photographs.
What affects the cost of chimney surveys
Several things affect the price of a survey:
- House, block, shop or office
- The roof’s overall size
- Which survey package you book
- Height and safe access
A small, low roof with good viewpoints takes less time than a tall, complicated one, and the package you pick makes a difference too. The price is always agreed first.
What we need to know
A little information up front helps. It helps to include:
- The property’s address and postcode
- What kind of property and roof it is
- Dates you’re working to, such as exchange
- What’s prompted the survey
To book a survey, call 07833 053749 or use the contact form with the address and what you’d like to know about the roof. We’ll confirm the price before booking.
Can I check my roof myself?
A DIY look is useful, but it isn’t a survey. You won’t see flashings, valleys or the backs of chimneys properly from the ground.
Inside, the loft is a good place to look, with care. Take a torch and only step on boards or joists, and look for staining, damp timber or daylight coming through.
Towns and villages near Burnt Oak
Also in Burnt Oak
What we do, step by step
We work from the outside in: first the slopes, edges and gutters from every safe viewpoint, then the roof space where it can be reached. In total, it takes an hour or two for most homes, a little longer where there are several stacks. Many London properties are flats or terraces with no side access, so the back of the roof is often seen from upstairs windows, from inside or, where a flight is allowed, from the air. Mention any building rules, key holders or managing agents when you book.
- We start by noting which stacks are in use, shared or causing concern.
- We check the roof around each stack, including the flashings.
- The top of each stack is checked for cracked flaunching and loose pots.
- Any lean, spalling or worn pointing is recorded.
- The report explains the condition and which work is most urgent.
How to prepare
- Tell us where we can park nearby
- Keep pets out of the way during the survey
- Unlock side gates and any roof access doors
Booking a survey
Our phone lines are open seven days a week, including Saturdays and Sundays. For a price or to book, ring 07833 053749 or drop us an email.
Related advice
Questions from Burnt Oak
Will parking be an issue for a roof survey in Burnt Oak?
It rarely stops a survey, but it’s worth planning. Let us know the parking rules on your street and we will work around them.
Do you survey roofs for landlords with property near Mill Hill Broadway station?
Yes. We survey roofs for landlords, letting agents and managing agents as well as owners. You can ring 07833 053749 or email us with the address and what you need, and we will talk through which survey suits.
How long have you been surveying roofs?
We’ve been surveying roofs for over 20 years and have completed over 5,000 surveys across London and South East England.
Do I need to be at home?
That depends on the survey. For inside areas and the roof space, someone has to give us access, while outside access can be discussed when you book.
What causes damp on a chimney breast?
Damp on a chimney breast normally means water is getting into the stack, or moisture is trapped inside it. The survey looks at the stack, the flashings and the capping and records the likely cause.
Do you work in Burnt Oak?
Yes. We carry out chimney surveys in Burnt Oak, and the service is the same as everywhere else we work.
Our stack is shared. Can you still survey it?
Yes. We check the parts we can see safely and the parts you can give us access to. Where a problem appears to be on next door’s side, we note it and you can raise it with them.
Leave it or get it looked at?
Damp in a chimney breast normally gets worse while the cause is left. It can spoil decoration and plaster. Finding the cause means the right work can be planned. In a London terrace or conversion, a roof defect rarely stays your problem alone: a blocked parapet gutter or slipped slate can let water into the flat below or the house next door. Finding it early keeps the work smaller.
The cost of a survey depends on the roof: how big it is, how high it is, the number of separate roofs and how it can be reached and seen safely. Our price is from £150, including VAT.
Why book us in Burnt Oak
- PI and public liability insurance
- An independent look at the roof
- 5,000+ roofs surveyed
- 20+ years’ experience
Read how roof surveys are priced and what we found on two real jobs.
What we can’t see
In fairness, a roof survey has limits:
- Flue inspections or sweeping
- Whether a gas appliance or its flue is safe
- Areas we cannot view from safe positions
If in doubt, ring 07833 053749 or drop us an email and we will suggest the right survey. What a survey covers and doesn’t.
Roof types and parts we check
- Lead flashings
- Brick chimney stacks
- Shared and party-wall stacks
- Chimney breasts
- Chimney pots and cowls
- Flaunching
Chimney surveys in Burnt Oak: local notes
With Headstone Manor about 4.2 miles west, Burnt Oak sits in an area with a long building history. On older houses around here, roofs frequently carry the marks of earlier repairs, from replaced slates to new lead, and a listed home or one in a conservation area may need consent for changes of material. Alongside Victorian and Edwardian terraces, outer London has a great many interwar semis, frequently with hipped roofs of clay or concrete tiles. Bay roofs, hip ridges and dormers from later loft conversions are the details that set these houses apart. On roofs like these, good slates or tiles can outlast the nails, battens, lead and mortar around them.
For site and facilities teams at buildings such as The Annunciation RC Junior School, a written record of a large roof helps plan work for the holidays rather than in term time. Living close to Watling Park is pleasant, but mature trees mean leaves in gutters and valleys each autumn. For businesses in and around places like Broadwalk Centre, knowing the roof’s condition lets you budget for work rather than pay for emergencies.
Burnt Oak is about 7 miles south-east of Watford, in Greater London. We carry out chimney surveys in Burnt Oak for houses, flats, blocks and commercial buildings. Our area takes in places right across Greater London, from the larger towns to small villages. You can also see our page for London.
Surveys in HA8, NW9 and NW7 work the same way as everywhere else we cover. Local streets include East Road, Back Lane and Rill Lane, and we cover them all. Being close to the A5100, Burnt Oak is easy for us to reach. We also cover The Hale (1 mile north), Edgware (1 mile north-west), Grahame Park (1 mile south-east), Little Stanmore (1 mile west) and Canons Park (1 mile west). Within a short drive, we also cover London (10 miles south-east), City of Westminster (8 miles south-east), Marylebone (8 miles south-east), Kensington (8 miles south), St Pancras (8 miles south-east) and Shoreditch (10 miles south-east).
Around Burnt Oak
Typical jobs here are in homes near St Martin's School Brentwood, Railway Hotel and Watling Park, among other places. For rail, the closest station is Mill Hill Broadway station, about 0.5 miles north-east of the centre. Other landmarks nearby include Church Farmhouse Museum (1.8 miles south-east) and Edgware Community Hospital (0.5 miles west). Open spaces near Burnt Oak include Darland's Lake and Mill Hill Old Railway Nature Reserve.