Greater London · London and the South East
Chimney survey in West Barnes, Greater London
A survey of chimney stacks, pots, flashings and flaunching around West Barnes, with a written report you can act on. Weekday and weekend visits available.
- Unused flues sealed without airflow
- Signs that a stack is leaning
- Frost-damaged brickwork on the stack
What affects the price in West Barnes
Our packages start from £150, with VAT included. What you pay for your roof depends on:
- The package you choose: Basic, Standard or Premium
- Building height and the viewpoints available
- Extra roofs, like extensions, dormers or garages
- Chimneys, valleys, parapets and other details
All our prices include VAT. Prices start from £150, including VAT. You will know the price for your survey before booking.
What to tell us when you contact us
The more you let us know, the easier it is to price the survey. When you get in touch, it helps to mention:
- The kind of building and roof involved
- Your timetable, such as an exchange date
- Where the property is, with the postcode
- Any stains, drips or damp patches you’ve seen indoors
When you’re ready to go ahead, phone 07833 053749 or use the contact form. We will suggest a package, agree the price and find a date, weekday or weekend.
Chimney surveys for homes and businesses in West Barnes
A damp patch on a chimney breast doesn’t always come from the same place. It might come in at the top, through worn pointing or porous bricks, or where the flashings meet the roof. Condensation inside an unventilated stack is another common cause. We look at each possibility and record what we find. You then know where to start. We survey chimney pots and cowls, shared and party-wall stacks and brick chimney stacks, and common reasons people get in touch are disused chimneys trapping moisture and gaps in the mortar around the pots.
Much of London’s housing is flats, in converted houses or purpose-built blocks, so roofs are often shared between several households. Landlords, managing agents and residents’ companies need to know what condition it is in and what work is coming up. A defect on a shared roof can reach more than one flat. A report gives everyone the same picture to plan from, with photos.
After the visit, you get a report with photos, emailed to you. It sets out the condition of the chimney stack, any defects and our written recommendations.
- Location
- West Barnes (KT3, SW20)
- Region
- Greater London
- Price
- From £150 inc. VAT
- Reports
- Emailed report with photos and recommendations
- When we survey
- Monday to Sunday, daytime
- Insurance
- Professional indemnity and public liability
- Telephone
- 07833 053749
- Page updated
- 27 October 2026
Towns and villages near West Barnes
Other services in West Barnes
Before and after the survey
A little preparation and a few simple habits help. Our tips:
- Never climb onto the roof to look at a chimney
- Have brackets on the chimney checked
- Keep track of stains on chimney breasts
- Use a Gas Safe registered engineer for gas appliances
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.
Have aerial and dish brackets on the stack checked, and moved if they’re working it loose. Less load on the stack means less strain in wind.
How the survey changes by roof type
Rendered stacks
Some stacks are rendered, which can hide the condition of the brickwork beneath. The survey checks for cracking, bulging and staining in the render.
Lead flashings
Mortar fillets are sometimes used where lead would normally be. They tend to crack, so we look at them closely.
Common questions in West Barnes
Is parking a problem for a survey in West Barnes?
Parking in West Barnes, as in most of London, takes a little planning: a visitor permit or a nearby bay makes the day run more smoothly.
Does a conservation area affect roof work in West Barnes?
For listing, use Historic England’s list; for conservation areas, ask the council. It matters most if you’re planning to re-roof in a different material.
Do you need to get into the loft?
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 can’t be seen from outside.
Can you inspect my roof with a drone?
Yes, where it is applicable. Our sub-250g drone is flown by a CAA-registered operator with a Flyer ID and Operator ID, and the airspace and weather are checked before every flight.
How soon will I get the report?
That depends on the survey you book: the Basic Survey report arrives within 48 hours, the Standard Survey in 24 to 48 hours and the Premium Survey the same day. Reports are sent by email.
Should a redundant chimney be removed?
A redundant chimney needs looking after like any other. Capping without airflow can lead to damp. We check how it is capped and its condition, so you can plan what to do with it.
Do you inspect shared chimneys?
Yes. Shared stacks are common on terraced and semi-detached houses. We survey what we can see safely, and note anything that seems to involve next door.
Landlords, agents and block managers in West Barnes
If you own several properties, surveys can be booked for more than one address. To arrange surveys for several addresses, ring 07833 053749 or drop us an email.
An agent can book and manage the survey for a landlord. Access is agreed with the tenant ahead of time.
What a chimney survey looks like in West Barnes
In outer London, interwar semis with hipped, tiled roofs sit alongside older slate-roofed terraces. If your home in West Barnes is one of them, bay roofs, hips and later dormers each have their own details. On roofs like these, good slates or tiles can outlast the nails, battens, lead and mortar around them. With Southside House about 1.1 miles north, West Barnes sits in an area with a long building history. On older houses around here, roofs frequently carry the marks of earlier repairs, from replaced slates to new lead, and any change of roofing material on a listed home needs checking with the council first.
Anyone responsible for a site like Sacred Heart Catholic Primary School will know that a written record of a large roof helps plan work for the holidays rather than in term time. Take an older house close to Holy Cross: old fixings, lead flashings and tall chimneys are typical of older roofs. If you own a rental within reach of Motspur Park station, the gap between tenancies is a good time to have the roof looked at.
West Barnes is about 2 miles south-west of Wimbledon, in Greater London. If you’re in West Barnes, booking works exactly as it does anywhere else: a call or an email, a price, then a date. Across Greater London, we cover West Barnes and the places around it. For surveys nearby, see our London page.
Here we cover the KT3 and SW20 postcode area for chimney surveys. Streets in the area include Queens Road, Blakes Lane and Egmont Road, and we cover them all. We also cover Raynes Park (1 mile north-east), Motspur Park (1 mile north-west), Bushey Mead (1 mile north-east), Cannon Hill (1 mile east) and New Malden (1 mile west). Larger places within reach include London (9 miles north-east), City of Westminster (9 miles north-east), Marylebone (9 miles north-east), Kensington (7 miles north), St Pancras (10 miles north-east) and Shoreditch (11 miles north-east).
Local landmarks in West Barnes
Typical jobs here are in homes near Beverley Park, The Fountain pub and Ursuline Preparatory School and the streets around them. West Barnes has its own railway station: Motspur Park station. Well-known places in the area include Bentall Centre (2.9 miles west) and Chessington Castle Hill (3.7 miles south-west). Open spaces near West Barnes include Kingston Hill Road area and Derwent Floodwash.
The survey, step by step
Time on site depends on the size and shape of the roof, but as a rough guide the survey takes an hour or two at a house, as part of a look at the roof around the stack. You are welcome to ask questions while we are there. Surveys in West Barnes can be booked for any day of the week. It helps if you can point us to a visitor permit or a nearby bay, and to clear a path to the loft hatch. Upstairs rooms at the back are useful too, as they often give the best view of a rear addition.
- We go through the chimneys, any damp and any work done on them.
- We check every stack from wherever it can be seen safely.
- We photograph and record the pots, flaunching, pointing and flashings.
- We look for damp on chimney breasts and in the loft space.
- The report, with photographs and recommendations, is emailed to you.
Before we arrive
- Keep pets out of the way during the survey
- Dig out any old roof reports or invoices
- If you’re buying, let the agent know when we are coming
Getting a price
Surveys can be booked for weekdays, Saturdays or Sundays. To arrange a day that suits you, call 07833 053749 or drop us an email with the address and the days you’d prefer.
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Honest limits
A survey is a careful look at the chimney stack, but it cannot do everything. Its limits include:
- Whether the flue is safe to use
- Structural calculations for a leaning stack
- Hidden damage within the stack
Not sure which survey suits your roof? You can call 07833 053749 or send us an email and we’ll tell you. The full list of what we check.
Roofs we survey in West Barnes
- Chimney breasts
- Shared and party-wall stacks
- Brick chimney stacks
- Flaunching
- Lead flashings
- Chimney pots and cowls