Essex · London and the South East
Great Yeldham Chimney Survey
A survey of chimney stacks, pots, flashings and flaunching around Great Yeldham, with a written report you can act on. Weekday and weekend visits available.
- Gaps in the mortar around the pots
- Loose, cracked or missing pots
- Unused flues sealed without airflow
Chimney survey in Great Yeldham
For buyers, a chimney survey before exchange can flag work you may want to raise. Cracked flaunching, failed flashings and worn pointing are common findings on older stacks. You get photographs and findings you can take back to the seller or agent. It works alongside a RICS home survey, not instead of one. We survey chimney pots and cowls, shared and party-wall stacks and lead flashings, and the problems we’re asked to look at most are a chimney out of line and frost-damaged brickwork on the stack.
In a village or hamlet like Great Yeldham, older cottages and farmhouses often sit alongside barns, outbuildings and a few newer houses. Older roofs may be clay tile, slate, stone or thatch, often with chimneys that have stood a long time. Each needs checking in its own way, and thatch is a specialist material we report on as far as it can be seen. On older roofs, it is typically the chimneys and lead flashings that need work first.
The written findings come by email, easy to pass on to a roofer, an agent or an insurer. Turnaround is within 48 hours for Basic, 24–48 hours for Standard and same day for Premium.
- Place
- Great Yeldham (CO9)
- Region
- Essex
- Cost
- From £150 inc. VAT
- Reports
- Emailed report with photos and recommendations
- Survey days
- Monday to Sunday, daytime
- Cover
- PI and public liability insurance
- Phone
- 07833 053749
- Last updated
- 27 October 2026
What affects the price in Great Yeldham
The price reflects the time and kit the roof needs. That comes down to:
- How big the roof is
- Features like valleys, chimneys, dormers and parapets
- Any need for thermal images or a drone flight
- Which survey package you book
Prices start from £150, including VAT, for a Basic Survey. Standard is from £250 and Premium from £400. You’ll know the price for your survey before booking.
Getting in touch
A little information up front helps. Please include:
- Why you want a survey: buying, a leak, a storm or new work
- Pictures of the roof from a safe spot, if you have them
- What kind of property and roof it is
- Any deadline, such as an exchange date
Once you know what you need, ring 07833 053749 or email us. From there it is a case of choosing a package, agreeing the price and fixing a day.
Places near Great Yeldham
More services for Great Yeldham
Common questions in Great Yeldham
Do you cover smaller places like Great Yeldham?
Yes, smaller places are covered as well as towns. We survey roofs across London and South East England. Let us know about access, parking and anything unusual about getting there when you book.
Is my home in Great Yeldham listed or in a conservation area?
You can check whether a building is listed on Historic England’s list, and your council can tell you if it’s in a conservation area. If a home is listed, changes that affect its special interest need listed building consent, and in a conservation area re-roofing in different materials may need permission.
I live in a flat. Can you survey the roof?
Yes, as long as access is agreed. Roofs over flats are often shared, so whoever owns or manages the building needs to agree access. We can only inspect what we’re given access to.
Do you test for asbestos?
No. We do not carry out asbestos surveys or testing. We flag materials that could contain asbestos, such as cement sheets or soffits on pre-2000 buildings, and recommend a specialist asbestos surveyor checks them before they’re disturbed.
Will you go up on the roof?
Only if it is safe. We look at everything that can safely be seen: from ground level, from windows, from inside the roof space, from the roof where it is safe and by drone where it applies. The report says if anything couldn’t be seen.
How do I book a survey in Great Yeldham?
To book, phone 07833 053749 or use the contact form and tell us the address and what you need to know. We’ll confirm the price and agree a day with you.
Do you look in the loft space?
Typically, if there is one and it can be reached safely. From inside, the underside of the roof often shows damp, staining or daylight that cannot be seen from outside.
Great Yeldham homes and their roofs
Weatherboarded walls and clay tile roofs are typical of older Essex buildings, while many towns grew with post-war and newer estates. Knowing the covering helps explain which parts of a roof are likely to need work first. Hedingham Castle, about 2.3 miles south-east, is one of the historic houses in the wider area around Great Yeldham. Older roofs in the wider area can hide decades of patch repairs, so the detail matters, and the council can say whether a home is in a conservation area.
For site and facilities teams at buildings such as St Andrew's Church of England Primary School, large buildings have long gutter runs and big roofs that need checking like any other.
Great Yeldham is about 6 miles north-west of Halstead, in Essex. From houses to flats and shops in Great Yeldham, the roof can be surveyed on a weekday or at the weekend. Great Yeldham is one of the places in Essex where we work. We also survey roofs in Chelmsford.
Every address in CO9 is within our area for chimney surveys. Whether your property is on Church Road, Market Grove and High Street or a nearby road, we can help. Close by, we survey roofs in Oaker Hill (1 mile north-west), Tilbury Juxta Clare (1 mile north), Little Yeldham (1 mile north-east), Toppesfield (2 miles south-west) and Ridgewell (2 miles north-west). Larger places within reach include Braintree (9 miles south), Witham (15 miles south), Saffron Walden (14 miles west), Halstead (6 miles south-east), Great Dunmow (13 miles south-west) and Great Notley (11 miles south).
Landmarks near Great Yeldham
Around Great Yeldham, our work takes us to homes and buildings near The Three Bottles Public House and Hedingham School and Sixth Form, among other places. Well-known places in the area include Halstead Hospital (5.7 miles south-east) and Hedingham Castle (2.3 miles south-east).
What we cannot see
It’s a careful look at the chimney stack, not the whole story. Its limits include:
- Hidden sides of a shared stack
- Whether the flue is safe to use
- Structural calculations for a leaning stack
Not sure which survey suits your roof? You can phone 07833 053749 or use the contact form and we will tell you. What a survey covers and doesn’t.
What we check
- Brick chimney stacks
- Flaunching
- Chimney pots and cowls
- Shared and party-wall stacks
- Lead flashings
- Chimney breasts
Signs you need a chimney survey in Great Yeldham
The flaunching on top of a stack holds the pots in place and sheds water. Cracked flaunching lets water in, and each winter makes it worse. In time, the pots can become loose.
Look out for signs like these:
- Frost-damaged brickwork on the stack
- Worn or missing pointing
- Signs that a stack is leaning
- Damp on a chimney breast inside
If you own one of the older houses in the streets near Parish Church of St Andrew, its roof may have old fixings, lead flashings and chimneys that need a closer look.
Before booking anyone
- What they won’t be able to tell you
- Whether you get a written report with photos
- Their insurance cover
- Whether any drone flown is registered with the CAA
Leave it or get it looked at?
For a buyer, the best time to learn about a chimney is before exchange. Once you’ve exchanged, the work is down to you. A report gives you something specific to put to the seller. Where a roof is exposed, as many are in small places like Great Yeldham, driving rain gets into any weakness, and damp in older walls is slow to dry out.
Larger roofs, taller buildings and commercial roofs take longer, so the price reflects that. The price is confirmed before you book.
Why choose Independent Roof Survey in Great Yeldham
- More than 20 years surveying roofs
- More than 5,000 surveys completed
- Drone flown under a CAA Flyer ID and Operator ID
- An independent look at the roof
See what a roof survey costs or what we found on two real jobs.
The survey, step by step
We will ask a few questions first, about the roof’s history, any leaks and past repairs. Then the inspection itself takes between one and two hours for most homes, a little longer where there are several stacks. In a small place like Great Yeldham, access is usually the main thing to plan. Mention any outbuildings, barns or garages you want included, and anything about the roof you already know. Weekday and weekend visits are available.
- We start with the details: how many stacks, whether any are shared and any signs of damp.
- We inspect each stack from safe viewpoints outside.
- We check and photograph the pots, cowls, flaunching, pointing and flashings.
- Where there is safe access, we look at the stack in the loft and the chimney breasts for damp.
- You get a report with photographs and our recommendations.
Before we arrive
- Let us know about parking before the day
- Leave a clear route to the loft
- Make a note of anything you’d like us to look at
How to book
Our phone lines are open seven days a week. To book or ask a question, call 07833 053749 or drop us an email.
Read more
What we look for on each type of roof
Chimney pots and cowls
On redundant flues, we look at how the pots are capped. Poor capping can lead to damp inside the stack.
Rendered stacks
Some stacks are rendered, which can hide the condition of the brickwork beneath. We look for cracks, hollow areas and staining.