Lead flashing gets most of the attention when a chimney leak is discussed, but on the older, taller stacks typical of Montpelier's terraces, the soakers working alongside that flashing are just as important, and just as prone to failure, even though they are far less visible from anywhere except directly on the roof itself. A homeowner can go their whole time in a property without ever seeing their own soakers, simply because they are tucked so completely out of sight beneath the tiles or slates.
Flashing covers the main junction where the chimney meets the roof, dressed over the brickwork and tucked into a chase cut in the mortar joint above. Soakers are smaller, individual pieces of lead tucked under each course of tiles or slates along the sides of the chimney, overlapping to direct water safely away from the join rather than letting it collect at any single point. The two systems work together, and a fault in either one alone is enough to let water through, regardless of how sound the other appears. Because soakers are layered under the roof covering itself, replacing them properly usually means lifting the surrounding tiles or slates carefully rather than simply working around them.
On the taller Georgian and Victorian stacks found across Montpelier, these components take a particularly hard beating, since height increases exposure to wind-driven rain that can find its way under flashing that would cope fine in more sheltered conditions. Age is a factor too — original leadwork on some of the area's oldest properties has now been in place for the best part of a century, and even good lead eventually fatigues, cracks or corrodes after that much thermal cycling.
Diagnosing a fault in this area properly requires getting up close to the junction rather than assessing from a distance, since soakers in particular are largely hidden beneath the tiles or slates and their condition cannot be judged from the ground or even from most vantage points nearby. This is one of the reasons leaks around chimneys can be genuinely tricky to pin down without a proper roof-level inspection.
Repair typically means re-dressing and re-securing lead that has simply worked loose, or fully replacing sections that have cracked, thinned or corroded beyond a reasonable repair, along with any soakers that have failed alongside it — patching the visible flashing while leaving failed soakers untouched rarely solves the problem for good. On a well-executed repair, all of the lead involved in a particular junction is generally renewed together, rather than mixing old and new components that may not last equally long.
If you suspect a leak around a chimney in Montpelier, particularly on a taller period property, Brunel Roofing Bristol can properly inspect both the flashing and soakers to find the real cause, with a free assessment, honest advice, and a 15-year guarantee on any repair work carried out.
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