East Sussex · London and the South East
Chimney Survey in Westham
Get a clear view of the chimney stack at a property in Westham from an independent roof surveyor. Visits run on weekdays and weekends, in the daytime.
- Staining on walls around the chimney
- Cracked or missing flaunching
- Flashings pulling away from the stack
What happens on the day
Where it is relevant and can be reached safely, the roof space is checked as well as the outside. In the loft, the signs we look for are staining, damp, daylight and sagging, as far as the space allows. All in, the survey usually takes roughly 1–2 hours for most houses, though large, tall or awkward roofs take more time. Somewhere like Westham needs a little journey planning: let us know about narrow lanes, gates, long drives and where we can park. The roof is looked at from ground level, from windows, from the loft where there’s safe access and from the roof where it is safe.
- We start with the details: how many stacks, whether any are shared and any signs of damp.
- Each chimney is viewed from wherever it can safely be seen.
- The pots, cowls, flaunching, pointing, brickwork and flashings are checked and photographed.
- Where there is safe access, we look at the stack in the loft and the chimney breasts for damp.
- You get a written report with photos and our recommendations.
Before the survey
- Mention any parking restrictions on your street
- Tell us about any leaks, stains or damp patches you know of
- Make sure we can get to the back of the property
Booking a survey
You can call us seven days a week. To book or ask a question, ring 07833 053749 or send us an email.
Related advice
About our chimney survey in Westham
For buyers, a chimney survey before exchange can flag work you may want to raise. On older stacks, we often find cracked flaunching, loose flashings and worn pointing. You get photos and findings you can take back to the seller or agent. It complements a RICS home survey rather than replacing it. If you are worried about frost-damaged brickwork on the stack and damp patches on chimney breasts, we can find out what’s behind it, whatever the roof.
Village roofs frequently face open fields and take the full force of wind and rain, which is hard on ridges, chimneys, flashings and gutters. 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 often the first to give way.
Pictures do a lot of the work in our reports, so you can see each defect rather than just read about it. Anything out of sight on the day is listed as such.
- Where
- Westham (BN24)
- Wider area
- East Sussex
- Cost
- From £150 inc. VAT
- Reports
- Written, with photos, emailed to you
- Survey days
- Weekdays and weekends
- Insured
- Professional indemnity and public liability
- Call
- 07833 053749
- Page updated
- 27 October 2026
Also in Westham
Questions from Westham
Will you come out to Westham?
Yes, Westham is on our map. Villages and rural addresses get the same survey as a town house.
Is the coastal weather around Westham hard on roofs?
Yes, coastal weather is harder on roofs: there is more wind, and more salt in the air. Ridges, verges, flashings and fixings are where it usually shows.
Is this an asbestos survey?
No. Asbestos surveys and testing aren’t part of what we do. If we see materials that could contain asbestos, such as cement roof sheets or soffits on buildings from before 2000, we flag them.
Do you need to get into the loft?
If the survey needs it and the roof space can be reached safely, yes. Please clear anything stored under the hatch, and if the loft cannot be reached safely, the report says so.
What does a roof survey cost?
Chimney survey starts from £150, including VAT. You’ll know the price for your roof before booking, and it depends on the roof’s size, access and the package you choose. For a price, phone 07833 053749 or use the contact form.
Is a leaning chimney dangerous?
It is worth having a leaning stack checked. We record the lean, the brickwork and the pointing, and recommend a structural engineer where it may be a structural concern.
Does this replace a RICS home survey?
No. It is a specialist roof survey, not a RICS Level 2 or Level 3 building survey. It focuses on the roof and can sit alongside a RICS survey.
Roof by roof
Lead flashings
Lead flashings seal the joint between the stack and the roof. The survey looks at whether the lead is tight, sound and well fixed.
Brick stacks
Brick stacks rely on sound pointing to keep water out. We check the bricks for spalling and the joints for erosion.
Practical tips
You do not need to be a roofer to help. Here’s what helps most:
- Keep the report to compare against at the next survey
- Never climb onto the roof to look at a chimney
- Remove aerials or dishes from the stack if they’re no longer needed
- Have the flue swept and checked if you use the fire
If anything in the report isn’t clear, just ask us. Standard Surveys come with a follow-up consultation, and Premium Surveys with an in-person one.
Check fixings on the stack are sound and taken off if they’re no longer needed. Less load on the stack means less strain in wind.
Leave it or get it looked at?
A leaning stack should be looked at sooner rather than later. Our survey records it and says when a structural engineer should look at it, so you can decide what to do next. In a place like Westham, a barn or garage roof left to fail puts whatever is inside at risk. A quick look before winter can save a lot.
The Premium Survey includes thermal imaging and drone inspection where applicable, from £400 with VAT included. We can help you choose the package that fits what you need to know.
Why choose Independent Roof Survey in Westham
- Drone flown under a CAA Flyer ID and Operator ID
- Plain-English reports with photos
- Over 20 years’ experience
- Over 5,000 surveys carried out
Take a look at how roof surveys are priced or what we found on two real jobs.
DIY checks: what’s safe
You can learn a lot from the ground. Binoculars help you spot slipped slates or tiles, gaps along the ridge and a leaning stack. Please don’t climb up for a closer look.
Your own check is a good start, but it is not a survey. From the ground, valleys, flashings and the backs of chimneys are often out of sight.
For landlords and managing agents
For blocks of flats, a roof survey helps managing agents and residents’ management companies plan ahead. Recommendations are set out in order of urgency where relevant, which helps when budgeting.
Surveys can also be booked by buyers’ agents acting for a client. The report is emailed, so it can go straight to your client.
Chimney surveys around Westham
Westham is within about 2 miles of the coast, where sea air brings more salt and stronger wind than 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. In Sussex, older roofs are frequently handmade clay tile, frequently with tile-hanging on the walls below. Horsham stone slab roofs survive on some old Sussex buildings, alongside oast houses and timber-framed Wealden hall houses. Knowing the covering helps explain which parts of a roof are likely to need work first.
If you let a flat or house near Pevensey & Westham station, knowing the condition of the roof, chimneys and gutters helps you plan work rather than react to complaints. If you look after a building such as Pevensey and Westham CofE Primary School, large buildings have long gutter runs and big roofs that need checking like any other. If you live in an older home near St Mary's Church, old fixings, lead flashings and tall chimneys are typical of older roofs.
Westham is about 3 miles north-east of Eastbourne, in East Sussex. We carry out chimney surveys in Westham for houses, flats, blocks and commercial buildings. Across East Sussex, we cover Westham. We also survey roofs in Brighton.
Here we cover the BN24 postcode area for chimney surveys. Whether your property is on High Street, Linkway and Rattle Road or anywhere close by, we can help. We also cover the places around Westham: Jenkins' Green (1 mile north-west), Pevensey (1 mile east), Langney (1 mile south), Pevensey Bay (2 miles east) and Wartling (3 miles north-east). Within a short drive, we also cover Eastbourne (3 miles south-west), Hastings (11 miles east), Bexhill-on-Sea (7 miles east), Seaford (10 miles west), Lewes (14 miles west) and Hailsham (4 miles north-west).
What’s near Westham
In Westham, that means homes and buildings near Bishop Bell School and The Heron pub and the streets around them. There’s a railway station in Westham itself: Pevensey & Westham station. A little further out are Pevensey Castle (0.6 miles east) and Eastbourne District General Hospital (3.1 miles south-west). Not far away are Combe Hill.