Greater London · London and the South East
Chimney Survey in St George's Fields
Get a clear view of the chimney stack at a property in St George's Fields. Visits run on weekdays and weekends, in the daytime.
- Bricks with flaking faces
- Gaps in the mortar around the pots
- Staining on walls around the chimney
Chimney survey in St George's Fields: what you get
Damp on a chimney breast can have several causes. Water may be getting in at the top through cracked flaunching or an uncapped pot, through the brickwork, or at the flashings. Moisture trapped inside a stack with no ventilation can also cause damp. Our survey checks each of these and records the likely cause. You then know where to start. We survey chimney pots and cowls, chimney breasts and lead flashings, and people most often book us about flashings pulling away from the stack and worn or missing pointing.
London has Victorian and Edwardian terraces in almost every borough, frequently with slate roofs, chimney stacks shared with neighbours and gutters hidden behind parapets. Slates can last a century or more, but the nails holding them corrode, and slates slip. In St George's Fields, as across London, that is why a roof needs a careful look rather than a glance from the street. Lead flashings and shared chimney stacks on these houses need a close look too.
With the Standard Survey, you also get moisture detection, a structural check and a follow-up consultation. The Premium Survey adds thermal imaging, drone inspection where applicable, structural analysis and an in-person consultation.
- Place
- St George's Fields (SE1, SE11, SE17)
- Region
- Greater London
- Price
- From £150 inc. VAT
- Report
- Emailed report with photos and recommendations
- When we survey
- Weekdays and weekends
- Insurance
- Professional indemnity and public liability
- Call
- 07833 053749
- Last updated
- 27 October 2026
Checking the roof from the ground
If you have a loft with safe access, take a look inside. Use a torch and stay on the joists or boards, and look for staining, damp timber or daylight coming through.
After heavy rain, check ceilings and the tops of walls for new stains. Photograph them and note the date.
What happens on the day
Photographs are taken throughout the visit, so you can see in the report what we found and where. Close-ups come from the safest viewpoint available, including by drone where it is applicable and the weather allows. A typical visit takes between one and two hours at most homes, rising to roughly 3–4 hours on a commercial building. For a visit in St George's Fields, parking and access are the things to plan: let us know about parking, the floor the property is on, any shared entrance and loft access. We then look at everything that’s safely in view from the ground, windows, the loft and, where it’s safe, the roof itself.
- We go through the chimneys, any damp and any work done on them.
- Each stack is inspected from safe positions outside.
- Pots, cowls, flaunching, pointing and flashings are checked and photographed.
- We look for damp on chimney breasts and in the loft space.
- The report, with photos and recommendations, is emailed to you.
How to prepare
- Clear the way to the loft hatch
- Tell us where we can park nearby
- Make a note of anything you’d like us to look at
Getting a price
When you’re ready to go ahead, ring 07833 053749 or use the contact form. From there it is a case of choosing a package, agreeing the price and fixing a day, weekday or weekend.
Related advice
When to book a survey in St George's Fields
Aerials and dishes are frequently fixed to stacks. The extra load in wind can work bricks and joints loose. We check fixings on the stack as part of the survey.
Problems we come across often include:
- Worn or missing pointing
- Staining on walls around the chimney
- Unused flues sealed without airflow
- Flaunching that has broken away
Take a building like St George's Cathedral Catholic Primary School: large buildings have long gutter runs and big roofs that need checking like any other.
Before booking any roof surveyor
- When you’ll get the report
- What experience they bring
- Whether you can ask questions once you have the report
- What the survey won’t cover
Tips that help
These tips come from what we see on roofs every week:
- Leave close inspection to people with safe access
- Check that disused chimneys can still breathe
- Book a sweep for flues that are in use
- Photograph damp patches with the date
If the stack is shared, you can pass the report to your neighbour. It shows what we found and where from the viewpoints we used.
Keep an eye on chimney breasts for new damp patches. Early signs are easier to trace.
Common questions in St George's Fields
Is my home in St George's Fields listed or in a conservation area?
We cannot confirm that for you, but Historic England’s list and your council can. Both listing and conservation areas can limit changes of roofing material.
Can a landlord with a rental near Elephant & Castle station book a roof survey?
Yes, that’s a common request. Let us know whether a tenant or an agent will let us in, and the report can go straight to you or your agent.
What does a roof survey cost?
Prices start from £150, including VAT. You will know the price for your survey before booking. For a price, phone 07833 053749 or drop us an email.
Do you work in St George's Fields?
Yes, we do. St George's Fields is part of the area we cover, and the service is the same as everywhere else we work.
Do you carry professional indemnity insurance?
Our surveys are covered by professional indemnity and public liability insurance. Ask if you need details for a managing agent or building owner.
Will you check the loft?
If there is a loft and safe access to it, yes. From inside, the underside of the roof often shows damp, staining or daylight that can’t be seen from outside.
Is a chimney survey the same as a flue inspection?
No. A flue inspection, sweep or gas safety check is a separate job. We look at the stack, pots, flaunching, pointing and flashings, and damp inside and flag anything that suggests the flue needs a look.
Towns and villages near St George's Fields
Other services in St George's Fields
Chimney surveys around St George's Fields
With Benjamin Franklin House about 1.1 miles north-west, St George's Fields sits in an area with a long building history. If your house is among the older ones, expect a mix of original materials and later repairs on the roof. Close to the centre of London, a great many houses are Victorian or Edwardian terraces, many of them roofed in Welsh slate. A butterfly roof with a central valley gutter, tucked behind a parapet wall, is common on these houses. Shared chimney stacks, party-wall upstands and lead work come with this kind of house. Each of these coverings has its own weak points, from fixings and valleys to flashings, chimneys and gutters.
If you let a flat or house near Elephant & Castle station, a roof report helps you deal with small faults before they turn into a call from a tenant. Living close to Geraldine Mary Harmsworth Park is pleasant, but mature trees mean leaves in gutters and valleys each autumn, and an overflowing gutter soon means a wet wall.
St George's Fields is about 1 mile west of London, in Greater London. We cover St George's Fields and the rest of Greater London, as part of our work across London and South East England. Our area takes in places right across Greater London, from the larger towns to small villages.
Postcode districts we cover here for chimney surveys: SE1, SE11 and SE17. You’ll find streets like York Road, Spur Road and Bear Lane, and we cover them all. With the A300 and A302 close by, St George's Fields is easy for us to reach for chimney surveys. Neighbouring places we cover for chimney surveys include Elephant and Castle (1 mile south-east), Newington Butts (1 mile south-east), Vauxhall (1 mile south-west), Lambeth (1 mile south-west) and Westminster (1 mile west). We also work in nearby towns such as Kensington (4 miles west), Walthamstow (7 miles north-east), Hoxton (3 miles north), Hampstead (5 miles north-west), Ruislip (14 miles west) and Brompton (3 miles west).
Landmarks near St George's Fields
Typical jobs here are in homes near The Duke Of Clarence Public House, London School of Musical Theatre and Lambeth Palace Library. Other local landmarks include Notre Dame Roman Catholic Girls' School (less than half a mile south-west) and Geraldine Mary Harmsworth Park (within half a mile south-west). There is a railway station in St George's Fields itself: Elephant & Castle station. Other landmarks nearby include Baynard's Castle (0.9 miles north) and General Lying-In Hospital (0.5 miles west). Not far away are Bellenden Road Nature Garden and St. James's Park Lake.
What happens if roof problems are left?
If you are thinking of removing or reducing a stack, it’s useful to know its condition first. In a conservation area or on a listed building, changes may need permission from the council, so check with them first. In St George's Fields, as in much of London, water from a roof defect can reach a neighbour’s home as easily as yours: a blocked parapet gutter or slipped slate can let water into the flat below or the house next door. Dealing with it early is far less disruptive.
The cost of a survey depends on the roof: its size, its height, how many sections it has and how it can be reached and seen safely. Chimney survey starts from £150, including VAT.
Why us?
- Over 5,000 surveys carried out
- A report with photos
- CAA-registered drone operator (Flyer ID and Operator ID)
- 20+ years’ experience
Take a look at what a roof survey costs and two real surveys.
Landlords, agents and block managers in St George's Fields
For a freeholder or residents’ company, a roof report is a sound basis for a maintenance plan.
Buyers’ agents can book surveys on behalf of their clients. Reports are emailed, so they’re easy to pass on, photographs included.