Thurrock · London and the South East
Chimney Survey in Chadwell St Mary
Chimney surveys across Chadwell St Mary, backed by more than 20 years’ experience. You get a clear report with photos.
- Damaged chimney pots and cowls
- Eroded joints in the brickwork
- Spalled or crumbling bricks
For landlords and managing agents
Managing agents and residents’ management companies use roof surveys to plan maintenance. Recommendations are set out in order of urgency where relevant, which helps when budgeting.
We also survey roofs for businesses and commercial landlords. Larger roofs take longer, so they’re priced to suit.
How a chimney survey works in Chadwell St Mary
If you’re buying a home with chimneys, it’s worth knowing their condition before you exchange. On older stacks, we often find cracked flaunching, loose flashings and worn pointing. Our report gives you specific points to raise with the seller or agent. It works alongside a RICS home survey, not instead of one. We’re often asked to look into unused flues sealed without airflow and damaged chimney pots and cowls, across lead flashings, shared and party-wall stacks and brick chimney stacks.
In a smaller place like Chadwell St Mary, homes range from older cottages to bungalows and newer houses. Older roofs can have slate, clay tiles or other traditional coverings, while many later ones have concrete tiles. On older homes, chimney stacks, valleys and gutters are typically where the work is, and the fixings under the coverings matter too. Nails and battens under older coverings often give out before the slates or tiles themselves.
The Standard Survey adds moisture detection, a structural check and a follow-up consultation. The Premium Survey goes further, with thermal imaging, drone inspection where it applies, structural analysis and an in-person consultation.
- Where
- Chadwell St Mary (RM16)
- Region
- Thurrock
- Price
- From £150 inc. VAT
- Your report
- Written, with photos, emailed to you
- Appointments
- Weekdays and weekends
- Insurance
- Professional indemnity and public liability
- Call
- 07833 053749
- Last updated
- 27 October 2026
DIY checks: what’s safe
A DIY look is useful, but it isn’t a survey. From ground level, valleys, flashings and the backs of chimneys are frequently out of sight, and those are details a survey looks at closely.
What you can’t do safely is get up close. Roofs are fragile and slippery, and falls from height are serious. That part is for a survey.
Questions from Chadwell St Mary
Is my home in Chadwell St Mary listed or in a conservation area?
Your council is the best source, with Historic England’s list for listed buildings. A change of roofing material may need consent in either case, and councils can also use Article 4 directions.
Do you cover smaller places like Chadwell St Mary?
We do. A small place gets exactly the same survey as a big one, with the route planned beforehand.
Can you survey a chimney stack we share with next door?
Yes. Many houses share stacks with a neighbour. We survey what we can see safely, and note anything that seems to involve next door.
Does the weather affect the survey?
Light rain is usually fine; heavy rain and wind are different. In high wind or heavy rain, a drone can’t fly and access may not be safe, and we’d agree another day.
My chimney looks like it is leaning. What should I do?
A leaning stack should be looked at. Our survey notes how it looks and the condition of the bricks and joints, and recommend a structural engineer where it may be a structural concern.
Can you tell me if my roof has asbestos?
No. Our report may flag materials that could contain asbestos, but confirming it is a job for a specialist asbestos surveyor. It may be present in buildings built or refurbished before 2000.
Will you photograph what you find?
Yes. Photos are taken throughout the survey, and the report uses them to show each finding alongside our recommendations.
How it works
On the day, we start by asking what you’ve noticed and what you want to find out. We then inspect everything that can be seen safely, using the ground, windows, the loft and a drone where it applies. Most surveys take roughly 1–2 hours for most homes, a little longer where there are several stacks. A visit to a smaller place like Chadwell St Mary is no different on the day: we look from ground level, from windows, from the loft and from the roof where it is safe. Point out any stains, cracks or loose pieces you’ve spotted.
- First we talk through the stacks, their history and any problems.
- Each stack is inspected from safe positions outside.
- Pots, cowls, flaunching, pointing and flashings are checked and photographed.
- Inside, the chimney breasts and the loft are checked for damp where there’s access.
- The report, with photographs and recommendations, is emailed to you.
Preparing for the visit
- Move anything stored under the loft hatch
- For flats, check roof access has been agreed
- Make sure we can get to the back of the property
Booking a survey
To book a survey, ring 07833 053749 or use the contact form with the address and what you’d like to know about the roof. You will know the price before anything is booked.
Read more
When you need someone else
Before booking, it’s worth knowing what a survey will not do:
- Whether a stack needs rebuilding on structural grounds
- Hidden damage within the stack
- Flue inspections or sweeping
Not sure which survey suits your roof? You can phone 07833 053749 or drop us an email and we will tell you. What our survey covers.
What this survey covers
- Flaunching
- Lead flashings
- Shared and party-wall stacks
- Brick chimney stacks
- Chimney breasts
- Chimney pots and cowls
Places near Chadwell St Mary
What else we do in Chadwell St Mary
What we’re asked to look at in Chadwell St Mary
Flaunching is the mortar bed that holds the pots and throws water off the top. Once it cracks, water gets in and frost makes the cracks bigger. In time, the pots can become loose.
Typical things we are asked to look at include:
- Mortar washing out of the joints
- Pots or cowls that look unsafe
- Unused flues sealed without airflow
- Damp on a chimney breast inside
If you run a business near Ealing Broadway Centre, a dated report on the roof is useful for planning and for any lease discussions.
What to check before booking
- How they plan to inspect the roof safely
- What’s outside the scope of the survey
- How soon the report will arrive
- What the report includes, and whether it has photographs
Different roofs, different checks
Lead flashings
Over time, lead can lift or come away from the brickwork. Any loose or split flashings are recorded.
Chimney breasts and the loft
Inside, chimney breasts can show damp when water gets into the stack. We look at them and at the stack in the loft where there is safe access.
Local roofs in Chadwell St Mary
The coast is about 3 miles or less from Chadwell St Mary, and being near the sea means more wind and salt than a roof inland would face. Salt is hard on nails, clips and metal flashings, and strong wind lifts anything already loose on a roof. In Essex, older buildings are often clay-tiled, many with weatherboarding, while many towns grew with post-war and newer estates. On roofs like these, good slates or tiles can outlast the nails, battens, lead and mortar around them.
The streets around a church such as Emmanuel Church are often among the oldest in a place, and if you own one of the older houses nearby, the nails, lead and mortar on the roof may be wearing out even where the slates or tiles look fine. For site and facilities teams at buildings like Herringham Primary Academy, large buildings have long gutter runs and big roofs that need checking like any other.
Chadwell St Mary is about 2 miles east of Grays, in Thurrock. Houses, flats, blocks and commercial buildings in Chadwell St Mary can all book chimney surveys. Chadwell St Mary is one of the places in Thurrock we cover. For surveys nearby, see our Maidstone page.
Surveys in RM16 are booked the same way as anywhere else. Local streets include St Teresa Walk, Claudian Way and Heathlyn Close. Neighbouring places we cover for chimney surveys include Orsett Heath (1 mile north-west), Biggin (1 mile south), West Tilbury (1 mile south-east), Little Thurrock (1 mile west) and Tilbury (2 miles south). Larger places within reach include Stanford-le-Hope (4 miles north-east), South Ockendon (4 miles north-west), Balstonia (3 miles north-east), Corringham (5 miles north-east), Aveley (5 miles west) and South Stifford (3 miles west).
Around Chadwell St Mary
Locally, jobs take us to homes and businesses close to Thurrock and Basildon College and Palmer's College, among other places. The nearest railway station is East Tilbury station, about 1.8 miles east of the centre. Nearby you will also find Ealing Broadway Centre (3.5 miles north-west) and Orsett Hospital (1.6 miles north). Green spaces nearby include Thurrock Thameside Nature Park and Sawyers Lake.