Isle of Wight · London and the South East
Southford Chimney Survey
Find out what’s going on with the chimney stack before you spend money on it. We carry out chimney surveys in Southford, with photos and a clear written report.
- A chimney out of line
- Loose, cracked or missing pots
- Eroded joints in the brickwork
What you can safely check yourself
You can learn a lot from the ground. With binoculars, look for slipped or missing slates and tiles, gaps along the ridge and leaning chimneys. Please do not climb up for a closer look.
After strong wind, take a look from the pavement or garden: broken slates or tiles in the garden, gaps along the ridge or loose lead are signs to note. Don’t go up yourself.
Chimney survey in Southford
If you’re buying a home with chimneys, it is worth knowing their condition before you exchange. On older stacks, we frequently 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. If you’ve noticed gaps where the stack meets the roof and gaps in the mortar around the pots, a survey will tell you what’s going on.
Village roofs frequently face open fields and take the full force of wind and rain, so ridges, chimney stacks, flashings and gutters work hard. Damp in old walls is slow to dry, so a small leak can do a lot of harm. A written report sets out what to deal with and in what order. On exposed older roofs, chimneys and lead flashings are frequently the first to give way.
After the visit, you get a written report with photos, sent by email. It explains the condition of the chimney stack, the defects we found and what we recommend.
- Place
- Southford (PO38)
- Wider area
- Isle of Wight
- Price
- From £150 inc. VAT
- Report
- Emailed report with photos and recommendations
- When we survey
- Weekdays and weekends
- Cover
- Professional indemnity and public liability
- Telephone
- 07833 053749
- Page updated
- 27 October 2026
Nearby places to Southford
Also in Southford
Why get it checked now?
Cracked flaunching and worn pointing are frequently modest repairs when they’re caught early. Leave it, and frost can work the stack loose, and the work grows. For an older or listed building in a place like Southford, repairs may need matching materials and consent, so a defect found early gives time to plan the work properly.
A Basic Survey starts from £150, inc. VAT. The Standard Survey starts from £250 and the Premium Survey from £400. We confirm the price for your survey before you book.
Why us?
- Independent findings on the roof’s condition
- Plain-English reports with photos
- Satisfaction rate of 98%
- Covered by professional indemnity and public liability insurance
See what a roof survey costs and two real surveys.
How we price chimney surveys
What a survey costs depends on the time and equipment it needs. The main factors are:
- How tall the building is and how easy the roof is to see
- Extensions, dormers and garages with roofs of their own
- If the survey needs thermal imaging or a drone
- The type of building, from a house to a block or an office
Thermal imaging and drone inspection (where it applies) come with the Premium Survey, from £400 inc. VAT. We can help you choose the package that fits what you’d like to know.
Helping us price your survey
You do not need to know any roofing terms. It’s enough to let us know:
- Where the property is, with the postcode
- Why you want a survey: buying, a leak, a storm or new work
- Any deadline, such as an exchange date
- Where any leaks, stains or damp patches show inside
Most bookings start with a short call: phone 07833 053749 or drop us an email. The price is agreed before a date is set.
How it works
Before we start, let us know why you’ve booked: buying, a leak, storm damage, new work or just wanting to know where things stand. It helps us focus on what matters most to you. Most visits take about one to two hours for a house, though large, tall or awkward roofs take more time. In a hamlet or village like Southford, a postcode does not always lead to the right gate, so a few directions are welcome. The visit itself is the same as anywhere else.
- You tell us how many stacks there are and any damp or problems you’ve noticed.
- We inspect each stack from safe viewpoints outside.
- The pots, cowls, flaunching, pointing, brickwork and flashings are checked and photographed.
- We check the chimney breasts and the stack in the roof space where we can reach them.
- The findings are written up with photos and recommendations and emailed to you.
Before we arrive
- Note where any stains or damp appear
- Agree roof access with the managing agent if it’s shared
- If you are buying, check with the agent that we can get in
Getting a price
You can call us seven days a week, including Saturdays and Sundays. To book or ask a question, call 07833 053749 or email us.
Advice
What we are asked to look at in Southford
TV aerials, satellite dishes and their brackets are often fixed to chimneys. The extra load in wind can work bricks and joints loose. We check fixings on the stack as part of the survey.
These are some of the problems a survey can pick up:
- Damp patches on chimney breasts
- Flaunching that has broken away
- Bricks with flaking faces
- Redundant stacks capped without ventilation
If you own a rental within reach of Shanklin station, the gap between tenancies is a good time to have the roof looked at.
Choosing a roof surveyor
- Which parts of the roof they’ll actually see
- Are they insured for the work?
- Which limits apply to the survey
- What exactly goes into their report
Southford: your questions answered
How do I find out if my home in Southford is listed?
Historic England’s list shows listed buildings, and the local council can tell you about conservation areas. Listed building consent is needed for changes that affect a listed building’s special interest, and conservation areas can limit changes of roofing material.
Do roofs near the sea, like those around Southford, take more of a battering?
It can do. Southford is within about 2 miles of the sea, and coastal roofs tend to see faster wear on metal parts and more wind lifting loose pieces.
Do you look in the loft space?
Where it is relevant to the survey and there is safe access, yes. A clear path to the hatch helps.
Do you survey roofs on blocks of flats?
Yes, as long as access is agreed. The roof of a block or converted house is often shared, so we need permission from the building owner or managing agent. We inspect only the parts we’re allowed to reach.
What’s the best way to book?
Simply ring 07833 053749 or use the contact form with the address. After a few questions, we confirm the price and fix a day, weekday or weekend.
Does someone need to be in?
Someone needs to let us in if we’re looking inside or in the loft. We’ll talk about access when booking.
Do you inspect the flue?
No. It isn’t a flue, sweep or gas safety inspection. We check the structure and weathering of the stack and any damp and flag anything that suggests the flue needs a look.
Roofs, chimneys and gutters in Southford
The coast is about 2 miles or less from Southford, so there is more wind and more salt in the air than further inland. Salt is hard on nails, clips and metal flashings, and strong wind lifts anything already loose on a roof, and driving rain gets into whatever gap is left. About 3.7 miles north lies Sheat Manor, a reminder of how long the area around Southford has been built on. Period homes nearby can have lead valleys, tall chimneys and a patchwork of past repairs.
The streets around a church like Church of St. Mary and St. Radegund are frequently among the oldest in a place, and if you own one of the older houses nearby, its chimney, valleys and lead work are likely to be the parts that need attention first.
Southford is about 6 miles south of Newport, in the Isle of Wight. If you’re in Southford, booking works exactly as it does anywhere else: get in touch, agree the price and pick a day. We cover towns and villages across the Isle of Wight, from the larger towns to small villages. Our Portsmouth page covers surveys nearby.
Postcode districts we cover here for chimney surveys: PO38. We also cover Bierley (1 mile south-west), Nettlecombe (1 mile south-east), Godshill (2 miles north), Wroxall (2 miles east) and Sandford (2 miles north-east). Further out, we also cover Newport (6 miles north), Ryde (9 miles north-east), Cowes (10 miles north), Sandown (6 miles north-east), Shanklin (4 miles east) and Ventnor (3 miles east). If you’re somewhere remote, a little more planning is needed, so mention it when you book.
Around Southford
Typical jobs here are in homes near The White Horse Inn. The closest station to Southford is Shanklin station, about 4.5 miles north-east of the centre. Well-known places in the area include Blackgang Sawmill Museum (2.2 miles south-west) and Arthur Webster Memorial Hospital for Children (4.5 miles north-east). For a walk, there is Stenbury Down.
Roof by roof
Brick stacks
Older brick stacks often have soft lime mortar. We note where repairs should match the original mortar.
Lead flashings
Some older stacks have mortar fillets instead of lead. They tend to crack, so we look at them closely.