Hertfordshire · London and the South East
Chimney Survey in Northaw
A survey of chimney stacks, pots, flashings and flaunching across Northaw, with drones and thermal imaging where they help. Call or email for a price.
- Redundant stacks capped without ventilation
- Mortar washing out of the joints
- Loose, cracked or missing pots
Chimney surveys for homes and businesses in Northaw
If you are 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. 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 brick chimney stacks, chimney pots and cowls and flaunching, and people most often book us about redundant stacks capped without ventilation and gaps in the mortar around the pots.
In a small place like Northaw, many roofs stand in the open, which is hard on ridges, chimneys, flashings and gutters. Older walls take a long time to dry once water gets in. A roof report shows what needs attention first. Lead flashings and old chimney stacks are frequently where weather gets in first.
Every survey ends with a written report, with photos, emailed to you. It sets out the condition of the chimney stack, any defects and our written recommendations.
- Location
- Northaw (EN6)
- Wider area
- Hertfordshire
- Cost
- From £150 inc. VAT
- Your report
- Written, with photos, emailed to you
- Survey days
- Monday to Sunday, daytime
- Insured
- PI and public liability insurance
- Call
- 07833 053749
- Updated
- 27 October 2026
Northaw: your questions answered
Is my home in Northaw listed or in a conservation area?
For listing, use Historic England’s list; for conservation areas, ask the council. The answer matters most when a change of material is on the cards.
Is Northaw within the area you cover?
Yes, smaller places are covered as well as towns. We work right across London and the South East. Let us know about access, parking and anything unusual about getting there when you book.
Do I need to be at home?
Someone needs to let us in if we’re looking inside or in the loft. We will talk about access when you book.
How do I arrange a chimney survey in Northaw?
It is easiest to phone 07833 053749 or use the contact form. Tell us the address and a little about the roof, and we will take it from there. We survey on weekdays and at weekends.
Will you check the loft?
Where it’s relevant to the survey and there is safe access, yes. A clear path to the hatch helps.
What insurance do you have?
Our surveys are covered by professional indemnity and public liability insurance. If you need details for a managing agent or a building owner, just ask.
What happens next?
The report comes by email, and you decide the next step: use it with a seller, an insurer, a roofer or a managing agent.
Common roof problems in Northaw
Removing a chimney breast inside can leave questions about how the stack is supported. We record what we can see in the loft and outside, and recommend a structural engineer where support is in question.
Signs worth acting on include:
- Worn or missing pointing
- Unused flues sealed without airflow
- Gaps where the stack meets the roof
- Spalled or crumbling bricks
Take an older house close to Parish Church of St Thomas A Becket: old fixings, lead flashings and tall chimneys are typical of older roofs.
Questions to ask before you book
- What follow-up you get after the report
- How they’ll see the roof: from the ground, the loft, the roof or by drone
- Which limits apply to the survey
- What insurance they carry
How we price chimney surveys
To price your survey, we look at:
- The height of the building and how the roof can safely be seen
- The roof’s overall size
- If the survey needs thermal imaging or a drone
- Whether you choose the Basic, Standard or Premium Survey
Larger roofs, taller buildings and commercial roofs take longer, so they’re priced to match. The price is confirmed before booking.
What to let us know when you get in touch
We will normally ask about:
- Any stains, drips or damp patches you’ve seen indoors
- When you need the report by
- The kind of building and roof involved
- The address and postcode of the property
A quick phone call is usually the easiest start: ring 07833 053749 or drop us an email and we will ask a few questions about the roof. You will have a price before anything is arranged.
Rented homes, blocks and businesses
Roof problems in a rented home affect tenants as well as the building. A survey helps you spot issues early and plan the work with less disruption.
An agent can book and manage the survey for a landlord, and the report can go to both. Access is agreed with the tenant ahead of time.
What a chimney survey looks like in Northaw
Across the South East, older homes tend to have slate or clay tiles, and many later ones concrete tiles, with flat-roofed extensions, dormers and garages common everywhere. Knowing the covering helps explain which parts of a roof are likely to need work first. Wyllyotts Manor, about 2.1 miles west, is one of the historic houses in the wider area around Northaw. On older houses around here, roofs often carry the marks of earlier repairs, from replaced slates to new lead, and the council can say whether a home is in a conservation area.
Take a building like Northaw Church of England Primary School: long gutter runs and wide roofs on a building that size are worth checking on a regular cycle. For landlords with property near Cuffley station, knowing the condition of the roof, chimneys and gutters helps you plan work rather than react to complaints.
Northaw is about 2 miles north-east of Potters Bar, in Hertfordshire. Northaw gets the same service as everywhere else we work: a careful inspection, photos and a written report. Northaw is one of the towns and villages in Hertfordshire we cover for chimney surveys. For surveys nearby, see our London page.
All of EN6 is covered for chimney surveys. Whether your property is on Vineyards Road, Church Lane and Northaw Road West or a nearby road, we can help. Nearby, we also carry out chimney surveys in Cuffley (1 mile east), Brookmans Park (2 miles north-west), Newgate Street (2 miles north-east), Bell Bar (2 miles north-west) and Little Berkhamsted (3 miles north). Larger places within reach include Watford (11 miles west), Hemel Hempstead (14 miles west), Stevenage (14 miles north), St Albans (8 miles west), Welwyn Garden City (7 miles north) and Harpenden (12 miles north-west).
Landmarks near Northaw
In Northaw, that means homes and buildings near Two Brewers Public House and Mount Grace School and the streets around them. Northaw’s nearest station is Cuffley station, roughly 1.6 miles east of the centre. Other landmarks nearby include Potters Bar Museum (2.1 miles west) and Chase Farm Hospital (3.3 miles south-east). Open spaces near Northaw include Fir and Pond Woods.
Before and after the survey
Here are a few things we’d tell any owner:
- Keep track of stains on chimney breasts
- Look at the chimneys with binoculars after a storm
- Use the report as a baseline for future checks
- Check with the council before altering a stack in a conservation area or on a listed building
The report is emailed to you, ready to share with a roofer or builder. We use plain English and a photo for each defect so anyone reading it can see what we saw.
Make sure redundant flues are capped with ventilation. Ventilation helps keep the stack dry.
What happens on the day
It helps to start with what’s prompted the survey: a purchase, a leak, a storm, new work or simply peace of mind. That way we can focus on what matters to you. Most visits take between one and two hours for most homes, a little longer where there are several stacks. Around Northaw, older homes can have small or awkward roof spaces, so it helps to know whether there’s a loft hatch and how easy it is to reach. We only go where it is safe.
- First you let us know about the chimneys, any damp on the chimney breasts and any worries.
- We inspect each stack from safe viewpoints outside.
- The pots, cowls, flaunching, pointing, brickwork and flashings are checked and photographed.
- Inside, we look for damp on chimney breasts and in the loft where there is safe access.
- We send a written report with photos, the defects found and what we recommend.
Getting ready for the survey
- For a flat or shared roof, check access with the building owner or managing agent
- Let us know where we can park nearby
- Have any questions written down, so nothing gets missed
Getting a price
We survey roofs on weekdays, Saturdays and Sundays. To find a date that works for you, ring 07833 053749 or email us.
Advice
What else we do in Northaw
How the survey changes by roof type
Lead flashings
Lead flashings seal the joint between the stack and the roof. We check for lifting, splits and gaps in the joints.
Rendered stacks
What’s behind the render cannot be seen without removing some, so the report explains what we could and couldn’t assess.