Chimney Flashings

You can certainly buy all the materials at Wickes. As a quick and dirty option, they also sell anodised aluminium faced bitumen backed flashing, which will stick onto a sound surface ( or if not sound then you will need to prime it ). If applied properly ( non-dusty surface, warm day and plenty of pressure in my experience ) it will last a decade+. Nicer if you can do the proper lead flashing though, which should outlast you!

Andy.

Mmm. Must do mine sometinme..

Actually, rake out teh mortar and replace with new mortar.

Its probably 1896 mortar up there now, so it should be good for another

You stated "Looking at the chimney it appears that

mortar or the pointing to the Lead flashing is cracked.

I have seen many slated roofs done in the late 1800s, with cement mortar slapped on to the slates and up to the lead flashing. This method of trying to seal leaks is a waste of time. As the rain water runs under the slate joints side way and still gets in. What as mainly happened is that the soaker, which fit between the slates and turn up at 90 degs behind the lead flashing have deterated. Another source of water ingress could be that the back gutter to the chimney is full of rubbish or split on the corner where the lead is bossed round. To re new a lead flashing in lead is quite simple once you've seen it done. the difficult part is in the marking out so that it fits in the brick joints, and doesn't look like a set of stairs. if you go to a builders merchant, you should be able to get a leaflet explaining all this .

I've seen it done twice recently on my house and would call it anything but simple. Having seen what's involved - and how long it took experienced roofers - I was not about to complain at the cost of £400 each.

Lead work is not massivly difficult, but it does take time. You will need some good snips, and tools to beat the lead with - this does not include a steel claw hammer, which will make huge dents. I use rubber mallets (of different sizes), there are also slate beaters.

I suggest that if you DIY this, you spend time and money up front to make sure you have a good working platform. This will make it much safer to work, and you will be able to do a much much better job.

The book "The slate roof bible" has pictures/diagrams on this subject.

Rick