Chimney Repairs · Ealing W5 & W13
Chimney Repairs In Ealing
Are the pots on your Ealing chimney original?
Decorative Edwardian stacks, Brentham chimneys and Hanger Hill mock-Tudor flues repaired without losing their character
Edwardian builders in Ealing liked a chimney to look the part. Moulded brick tops, ornate terracotta pots, banded courses and sometimes three or four flues per stack. A century on, those details are what makes a villa near the common or in Pitshanger look right, and they're also what a cheap repair tends to remove. Swapping a decorated pot for a plain one or rendering over worn brick is quick, but it changes the house. We repair Ealing chimneys to keep that detail, sourcing matching pots and bricks and using mortar that suits the original.
Chimney Repairs in Ealing - free survey
Pop your details in and we'll call you back to book the survey. It costs nothing, it obliges you to nothing, and if the honest verdict is that your roof needs no work, that verdict is exactly what you'll get.
Who runs Watertight
Ealing chimneys, Brentham rules and two brothers
With Brentham's Article 4 direction and conservation cover across much of Ealing, keeping a chimney is usually the starting point. The two brothers who run Watertight, John and Mark, often work out a repair like that together, going through the costs as a pair.
They've worked as a team all along and have never fallen out. Both know your job inside out, which helps when a protected stack needs a careful decision.
10 years
Written workmanship guarantee
Free
Surveys, quotes and second opinions
Same day
Response aim for active leaks
TW5 based
Minutes from most of the patch
Details worth keeping
Ealing has three very different kinds of chimney. The big Edwardian villas have tall, decorated brick stacks with ornate pots. The Arts and Crafts houses in Brentham have simpler, chunkier stacks that are part of the garden suburb's design. And the 1930s houses at Hanger Hill have mock-Tudor stacks, sometimes with decorative brickwork of their own. Each needs a different approach.
Brentham's Article 4 direction makes removal or alteration of a stack there almost impossible without consent, and much of the rest of Ealing has conservation cover. So keeping what's there is the starting point. Villa owners often have flat bay or porch roofs needing attention too; see our flat roof repairs in Ealing for those.
How we repair Ealing chimneys
Pots kept or matched
Original terracotta pots are re-bedded where sound and matched from reclaimed stock where broken.
Decorative brick repaired
Moulded and banded brick is cut out and replaced with matching units, not rendered or patched with filler.
Brentham's rules followed
We know the garden suburb's controls and keep chimney repairs in keeping with the original Arts and Crafts design.
Mortar to suit the age
Softer mixes for older brick, colour-matched so new pointing doesn't stand out on a period stack.
Lead flashings renewed
Stepped flashings and back gutters in lead, dressed neatly against slate or clay tile.
Every item priced
Each element priced separately, with scaffold on its own line.
"On the Ealing villas we work on, the pots are often the most valuable thing on the stack - and the first thing a careless repair throws in the skip."
Watertight Roof Repairs Hounslow - Ealing chimney repairs jobs
Repairing an Ealing chimney
Photo and postcode
Send a picture of the stack and tell us the street. If you're in Brentham or a listed building, we'll plan for it.
Close inspection
Pots, brick, pointing, flaunching and lead checked at height, with damp checked inside.
Matching plan
We tell you which pots and bricks can be saved, what needs matching and what that costs.
Repaired in character
Work done with matched materials, original pots back in place, and photos sent so you can see the result.
The guarantee is a document, not a phrase
"All work guaranteed" costs nothing to say, which is why every van in west London says it. What matters is whether anything gets written down. Work arranged through Watertight Roof Repairs Hounslow comes with a 10 year workmanship guarantee as an actual piece of paper - dated, signed, specific to your job - handed over alongside the completion photos. Materials carry their manufacturers' own cover on top, which varies by product, so your paperwork names what applies to yours instead of waving at a number.
A guarantee that long is only affordable if the repairs don't come back - so it shapes how the work is done. Failed material comes off rather than getting covered over. Replacement tiles and slates go on with fixings specified for a roof that lives under the Heathrow approach, not the minimum the 1930s got away with. Junctions get lead. And anything we find that we can't fix that day gets photographed and said out loud, because surprises kept from you now become our problem within 10 years.
Plainly: if water gets back in through work we've done, we return and put it right at no cost, for a decade. Ask any firm quoting against us to match that in writing - it's an interesting conversation to watch.
10 yrs
Workmanship, in writing
£0
Cost of a return visit under it
Insured
Public liability in place
Named
Manufacturer cover per job
Before you hire a chimney repairer in Ealing
What happens to the pots?
Ask if they'll be kept. Original pots are hard to replace and part of the house's character.
Will brick be replaced or rendered?
Rendering over a decorative stack hides problems and changes the look. Ask for replacement brick instead.
Do you know Brentham's rules?
If you're in the garden suburb, make sure your roofer knows what the Article 4 direction means.
Reclaimed matching pots or standard replacements?
When an Ealing chimney pot is broken, the replacement choice changes how the stack looks. Here's how the two options compare.
| Comparison point | Reclaimed or matched pot | Standard modern pot |
|---|---|---|
| Appearance | Matches its neighbours on the stack and the street. | Often plainer and visibly different. |
| Availability | Takes some searching; we use reclaim suppliers. | Available straight away. |
| Cost | Higher, depending on style. | Lower. |
| Conservation areas | What the council expects to see. | May be unacceptable in Brentham or on listed houses. |
| Function | Works the same once capped or lined. | Works the same. |
Chimney repair costs in Ealing
Re-bedding pots and renewing flaunching is a low to mid-hundreds job plus access. Repairing decorative brick or sourcing reclaimed pots adds to that. These factors are particular to Ealing:
Decorative brick
Moulded and specials bricks cost more and take longer to fit than standard ones. We price by the brick.
Reclaimed pots
A matching period pot can cost several times a plain one. We'll show you options at different price points.
Brentham approvals
If any change needs consent from Ealing Council, the time to prepare the details is itemised.
Around Ealing between jobs
A regency manor, a Rothschild mansion and a lot of chestnut trees.
Pitzhanger Manor & Walpole Park
Learn more about Pitzhanger Manor & Walpole Park on Google Maps
Gunnersbury Park & Museum
Learn more about Gunnersbury Park & Museum on Google Maps
Ealing Common & the avenues
Learn more about Ealing Common & the avenues on Google MapsEaling, W5 & W13
about 15 minutes from base. Planning authority: Ealing Council.
Chimney Repairs in Ealing: your questions
Can I remove the chimney from my Brentham house?
Almost certainly not without consent, and probably not at all. Ealing Council's Article 4 direction for Brentham Garden Suburb, in place since 1976, removes most permitted development rights. Chimneys are an important part of the estate's design. Repair is the realistic option.
Where can you find matching chimney pots for an Ealing villa?
From architectural salvage and reclaim suppliers, and occasionally from other jobs where pots are being removed legitimately. We'll send photos of options for you to choose from.
Do I need permission for chimney repairs in Ealing?
Like-for-like repairs don't need planning permission. Ealing Council's conservation areas, and especially Brentham's Article 4 direction, mean changes to appearance, removal or reducing height may need consent. Listed buildings need listed building consent for alterations. We'll check your address first.
My Hanger Hill house has a mock-Tudor chimney. Is it special?
Often, yes. The 1930s houses at Hanger Hill sometimes have decorative brickwork that's worth keeping. We repair it with matching brick and mortar rather than simplifying it.
Why is my Ealing chimney breast stained?
Usually rainwater getting in at the top and running down inside, or old soot salts reacting with damp. Fixing the flaunching, flashing and capping redundant flues normally stops it. The stain may need sealing before redecorating.
What the patch says about us
Homeowners from Cranford to Hayes on how their jobs actually went.
"Woke up to tiles all over the front garden and not a breath of wind - couldn't work it out. They came the same morning, made it safe, and were the ones who told us it looked like vortex damage from the planes and that Heathrow has a scheme for exactly this. Helped us photograph everything properly for the claim. Could easily have just charged us for a repair and said nothing. That honesty is why I'm writing this."
"Our loft conversion started leaking around the dormer two winters after the conversion company vanished. Two roofers quoted big money to strip the whole dormer roof. These guys traced it to one badly-lapped flashing on the cheek, showed me the photo, fixed it in half a day. It's been through every storm since bone dry. The difference was they looked before they priced."
"Called them expecting to be told the roof needed doing - the house is 1936 and the ridge had been dropping mortar crumbs for a while. Survey verdict: re-bed the ridge, replace five tiles, and the rest is good for years yet. They even marked two tiles to keep an eye on. Quote was a fifth of what I'd braced for. When the roof does eventually need doing, they've earned that job."
"Water started coming through the back bedroom ceiling at 7am on a Sunday. Rang around - one lot quoted a £180 call-out before they'd even start. This firm answered, talked me through switching off the lights circuit and where to put the buckets, and was here by half nine. Told me the Sunday rate up front, made it dry, came back Tuesday and did the proper repair for a very fair price. Kept every promise they made on the phone."
"Had the fascias, soffits and gutters done on our terrace. What sold me was the survey - they pushed a screwdriver into the old boards to show me which were actually rotten and which were fine, then quoted to replace only what needed it. Other quotes were for capping over the lot, which they explained the problem with. Work was neat, gutters run properly for the first time in years, and the guarantee arrived as a proper document."
Had us out to your roof?
Two minutes writing a review does more for a small local firm than any advert we could buy - and it helps the next west London household with a drip find someone straight.
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Keep your Ealing chimney looking right
We'll survey the stack, tell you what can be saved and what needs matching, and give you a fixed price that keeps the character intact.