Flaunching is one of those chimney components that most homeowners in St Pauls have never heard of until a roofer mentions it, despite it doing a fairly important job. It's the mortar fillet moulded around the base of the chimney pots at the very top of the stack, holding the pots securely in place while sloping outward to shed rainwater away from the brickwork below rather than letting it pool on top of the stack, where it would do the most damage over time. Small as it is, its condition has an outsized effect on how well the rest of the stack holds up.
When flaunching cracks or crumbles, which it inevitably does over time given its exposed position right at the top of the chimney, two problems follow. First, rainwater that should be running off the stack instead sits directly on the brickwork or seeps down into it, accelerating the kind of moisture damage that leads to spalling bricks and mortar failure further down. Second, the pots themselves lose some of their secure fixing, which can allow them to rock in strong wind and, in the more neglected cases, become genuinely loose or dislodged, which is a real safety concern on a taller stack. On St Pauls's terraced streets, a dislodged pot is also a hazard to the pavement or neighbouring property below.
Because flaunching sits at the very top of the stack, deterioration here is easy to miss from ground level in St Pauls, particularly on taller terraced properties where the chimney isn't easily visible from the street. It's often only spotted during a wider roof inspection or once a related problem, like a loose pot or water ingress, prompts someone to actually get up and look properly. Binoculars from a neighbouring window can sometimes give an early clue, but nothing substitutes for a proper close-up check.
Repairing flaunching means removing the old, cracked mortar fillet entirely and reforming it fresh around the base of the pots, sloped correctly to shed water outward rather than allowing it to sit flat. It's a relatively contained repair in terms of materials, but like any chimney work it requires safe access at roof level to do properly and safely. Rushing the job or trying to patch over cracked flaunching without removing it fully rarely produces a lasting result.
Flaunching repair is often carried out alongside repointing or brick repair lower down the stack, since a stack old enough to need one of these repairs has frequently developed the beginnings of the other as well. Combining the two into a single visit is usually the most sensible and cost-effective way to deal with both.
If your chimney pots look loose or you're not sure when the flaunching was last renewed, Brunel Roofing Bristol can check it as part of a free inspection for St Pauls properties, with all repair work backed by a 15-year guarantee.
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