Lead flashing around a chimney does most of the quiet, unseen work of keeping a roof dry, and it is one of the first things to fail on older properties around Henbury, particularly on stacks that have been repointed or patched repeatedly over the years without the lead itself ever actually being renewed properly. When a full roof replacement takes place, this is the point at which all of that ageing leadwork is stripped out completely and replaced from scratch, rather than being reused simply to save time or cost on the job.
A typical chimney has several separate pieces of lead all working together as a system: soakers tucked between each course of tiles on the sloping sides, a stepped flashing dressed into the brick joints above them, and an apron or tray fitted at the front and back of the stack. On a re-roof, each of these components is remade from new lead code rather than patched or reshaped, since old lead that has already been lifted once tends to crack, split or lose its original memory when it is bent back into position a second time around the brickwork.
The lead is cut and dressed to the exact dimensions of the individual chimney rather than bought and fitted as a generic strip off the shelf, which is why this stage of the work takes genuine skill and time to get right on every single job. It is chased into the mortar joints of the brickwork so that water running down the stack in heavy rain is directed cleanly out onto the tiles below, rather than finding a way in behind the flashing and slowly soaking into the roof timbers underneath over successive winters.
On a wider, older stack of the kind still seen on some of Henbury's period properties, a back gutter is also formed in lead to carry water safely around the top edge of the chimney rather than letting it pool directly against the brickwork during prolonged rain. Getting the falls right in this back gutter is one of the more technical parts of any re-roof, and it is well worth asking about directly if your property has a larger or older-style stack that catches a lot of water off the main roof slope above it.
Because leadwork is largely hidden once the roof is finished and the scaffolding has come down, it is easy to overlook when comparing roofing quotes from different companies, yet it is one of the details that most affects how long a new roof actually stays watertight around the chimney over the years that follow. Brunel Roofing Bristol renews chimney leadwork as standard on every full roof replacement in Henbury, and is happy to explain exactly what is included before any work starts so there are no surprises once the job is underway.
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