Chimney Repairs · Blidworth NG21
Chimney Repairs In Blidworth
Has the wind on Blidworth's ridge been working at your chimney?
Pots, crowns, pointing and lead for stacks in the old hilltop village and the colliery estates below it
A chimney is the tallest thing on most roofs, and in Blidworth that roof is often sitting on a ridge above open farmland already. Wind gets at a stack up there from every side. It rocks loose pots, picks at cracked flaunching and lifts the corner of any lead that wasn't dressed tight. Rain isn't really the problem, as this is a dry part of the country. Age is. The stacks on the New Blidworth estates north of Dale Lane date from the pit years after 1926, and some around Main Street are older still. Chimney repairs in Blidworth are mostly about making those tops secure again.
Free chimney repairs survey in Blidworth
Leave your details and we'll ring you back to arrange a survey. The visit is free, you're under no obligation once we've been, and a roof that doesn't need work gets called a roof that doesn't need work.
Fully insured
Free Blidworth surveys
Itemised fixed prices
about 12 minutes from base
Who does the work
Chris and the chimneys up on the hill
The roofing is run by Chris, a local man who's been on roofs since he was a teenager. More than 20 years in the trade have taught him what wind does to a tall stack on an exposed house, and that the top is what has to be made secure first.
If a pot still needs rebedding late in the afternoon, it gets finished, because nothing is left until it's watertight, however long the day ends up. The team share that attitude. They work extremely hard and take pride in being part of a business that puts customers ahead of money or perks, and the quality is the same whether anybody looks up at the chimney or not.
1,000+
Repairs carried out
10 years
Workmanship guarantee, on paper
Free
Surveys, quotes and honest bad news
No upselling
A patch that will hold gets recommended as a patch
Chimney warning signs on Blidworth's high ground
On an exposed hill, chimney trouble usually starts at the very top. Here's what to watch for from the garden.
A pot that's tilting, or has moved after a windy night
The flaunching holding it has cracked, and the wind is rocking the pot in its bed. It wants rebedding before it comes down.
Lead at the base of the stack lifted at one corner
The flashing has worked loose from its joint. On a windward slope, gusts get underneath and peel it a bit further every time.
A damp patch on the gable wall beside the chimney breast
Water is getting into the stack through open pointing or a broken crown and soaking down through the brickwork. Stacks facing open fields often show it first.
Grit and mortar on the roof below the stack
The joints are wearing away. Age and constant wind scour the mortar out of the most exposed faces before the sheltered ones.
How we approach a chimney repair in Blidworth
Pots bedded to stay put
Loose pots are rebedded in a fresh crown shaped to throw water off, so they're held firmly instead of resting in crumbling mortar.
Lead dressed tight
Flashings are wedged into raked-out joints and dressed down flat to the tiles, leaving no lip for the wind to get hold of.
Windward face first
The side of the stack facing open country takes the most punishment, so we go over it closely, along with the faces you can't see from the street.
Matched materials in the old village
Around Main Street and the church, repairs use brick, mortar and pots that match what's there, which keeps a simple repair simple.
Disused flues capped
A stack with no fire in it stays cold and damp. A vented cap keeps rain out of the flue and lets the masonry dry.
A written guarantee
Ten years on the workmanship, handed over on paper once the stack is finished.
Old village stacks, pit-estate stacks, and the same wind
Blidworth has two kinds of chimney. Up in the old village, along Main Street and around St Mary's, some houses have real age, inside a conservation area that has been in place since 1977. Below them are the houses built for Blidworth Colliery, whose shaft reached the coal in 1926, and they're heading for a hundred themselves. They come from different eras, but both sit high above the farmland around them and catch wind that the valley towns never feel. A stack takes that wind more directly than anything else on the house. Once the crown cracks or a pot loosens, every gust works the gap a little wider, so fixing a chimney here is mostly about making the top secure. The rest of the house faces the same weather, and the flat roofs on Blidworth garages and extensions tend to lose their edges to it in much the same way.
"When Blidworth homeowners ring about a chimney, it's more often a loose pot or lifted lead after a windy spell than damp coming through indoors."
From chimney repairs enquiries Roof Repairs Mansfield handles in Blidworth
From survey to sign-off: a Blidworth chimney job
Free survey, outside and in the loft
We look at every face of the stack, including the one facing open ground, and check the loft for damp around the breast.
Photographs and one itemised price
You see what we saw. The written quote lists each repair, with scaffold or tower access shown separately, which matters on the sloping streets.
Repairs carried out as quoted
Pots rebedded, crown renewed, joints pointed and lead dressed, exactly as the quote set out.
Pictures of the result, and a tidy site
You get photos of the finished top and flashings, and the old mortar and lead go away with us.
Guarantee in writing
Our ten-year workmanship guarantee is handed over once everything is done.
Ten years, in writing, before we leave the drive
Every roofer in Nottinghamshire will tell you their work is guaranteed. Ask to see the paper and the conversation often changes. Ours doesn't: work booked through Roof Repairs Mansfield carries a 10 year workmanship guarantee as a physical document, dated, signed and handed over with the completion photos - not a line in an email you'll never find again. Materials sit on top of that with their manufacturers' own cover, which differs product to product, so your paperwork names the cover that actually applies to your job.
A guarantee that long only makes commercial sense if repairs are done in a way that doesn't invite a return visit. Around Mansfield that means respecting what the housing actually is: coverings and fixings from the colliery era that fail as systems, not as single tiles, and mortar that has been quietly powdering since the pits shut. So failed material gets stripped back to something sound before new goes on, mortar gets matched to the age of the brick, and anything we can't make right on the day gets said out loud rather than covered over.
The blunt version: if water we were paid to stop finds its way back through our work inside 10 years, we return and put it right at our own cost. That promise has to be cheap to honour - and it is, because of how the work gets done the first time.
10 yrs
Written workmanship cover
1,000+
Repairs carried out
Insured
Public liability held
Named
Manufacturer cover per job
What to ask a roofer about a Blidworth chimney
A chimney on an exposed hill needs a little more thought than one on a sheltered street. These questions will show whether it's had it.
How will the pots be held?
Ask how the crown will be formed and whether the pots will be properly bedded into it. A thin skim of mortar won't last many windy winters up here.
Is the lead being refixed or just sealed?
Ask whether the flashing will go back into the brickwork. Sealant or tape over lifted lead is likely to come loose again in the next strong wind.
Do you know the conservation area?
If you live in the old village, your roofer should match the existing materials and know that like-for-like repairs need no application.
Lead Flashing Or Self-Adhesive Flashing Tape?
Flashing tape gets sold as a quick fix for a leaking chimney base. On a windy hilltop, it's worth knowing how it stacks up against lead.
| Comparison point | Lead flashing | Flashing tape |
|---|---|---|
| How it's fixed | Wedged into a raked-out mortar joint and dressed onto the tiles. | Stuck onto the face of the brick and tile. |
| In strong wind | Heavy and held mechanically, so it stays down when dressed properly. | Relies on its adhesive, and once an edge lifts it can peel back. |
| Lifespan | Fitted correctly, it outlasts most of what's around it. | Best treated as a temporary repair. |
| Preparation | Joints are raked out and repointed as part of the job. | Needs clean, dry brick to grip, which old stacks rarely offer. |
| In the old village | The traditional material, so it suits the conservation area. | Can look out of place on an older house. |
| Cost | More at the time, as part of a proper repoint and reflash. | Cheaper to buy, but likely to need doing again. |
What moves the cost of a Blidworth chimney repair
A new crown with the pots rebedded is often a job of a few hundred pounds. Repointing the whole stack and renewing the lead tends to run into the low four figures. Up on Blidworth's hill, four things decide where yours sits.
Main Street's slope
Main Street climbs about 35 metres through the village, so a house that's two storeys at the front can be nearer three at the back, and the scaffold has to be taller to match.
Conservation area materials
In the old village, finding brick or pots to match can take longer, and that time is reflected in the price.
How far the damage has spread
A single loose pot is a small job. If wind has lifted the lead and water has been getting into the stack for a while, there's more pointing to do.
Doing it alongside other work
If scaffold is going up for the ridge or verges anyway, adding the chimney while it's there is the cheapest time to do it.
Blidworth chimney questions
Do I need permission for chimney work in Blidworth's conservation area?
Blidworth is under Newark & Sherwood District Council. Like-for-like repairs such as repointing, new flaunching or replacing lead need no permission, even in the conservation area around Main Street and the church, which was designated in 1977. Removing or altering a stack inside the conservation area is worth checking with the council first. St Mary's church is Grade II* listed and the windmill is Grade II, so any work on those needs listed building consent.
Why does wind cause so much chimney damage in Blidworth?
The village sits on an exposed ridge above open farmland, so its stacks catch wind the valley towns around Mansfield don't. Wind won't break sound mortar, but once a crown has cracked with age or a flashing has loosened, it keeps working at that weak spot. That's why we pay most attention to the tops and the lead here.
Is it worth keeping the chimney on my New Blidworth house if we never use it?
That's your call. Keeping it means a repoint, a sound crown and a vented cap, which is usually cheaper now. Taking it down costs more at the time but ends the upkeep. On a shared stack, only your half can come down above the roof, and structural work needs your neighbour's agreement.
Can you fix a chimney pot that's come loose in a storm?
Yes. If the pot is at risk of falling, we make it safe first, then rebed it in a new crown, or replace it if it's cracked. We also check the other pots and the lead while we're up there, since wind rarely loosens just one thing.
Do you fit cowls and bird guards?
We do. A vented cap or cowl keeps rain out of a disused flue, and a guard stops birds nesting in it. On an exposed Blidworth stack we make sure whatever we fit is fixed firmly enough to cope with the wind.
What to do in Blidworth
Blidworth backs straight onto the forest, so there's plenty to do outdoors once the chimney is sorted.
Blidworth Woods
Around 714 hectares of pine and broadleaf on the south side of the village, run by Forestry England. There are three car parks, a café kiosk at the main entrance and waymarked trails, and it's at its best in autumn.
Find it on Google Maps : Blidworth Woods
St Mary of the Purification
Blidworth's Grade II* church sits at the top of the village and keeps up the Rocking Ceremony, revived in 1922, when a baby boy is rocked in a cradle on the Sunday nearest Candlemas. Will Scarlet's reputed memorial stands in the churchyard.
Find it on Google Maps : St Mary of the Purification
The Druid Stone
A natural rock about 14 feet tall with a passage right through it, out in farmland beyond the village. It's on private land, so view it from the footpath off Ricket Lane towards Ravenshead.
Find it on Google Maps : The Druid StoneFinding Blidworth
Blidworth is about 12 minutes from our yard on Sandy Lane in Mansfield. It falls under Newark & Sherwood District Council rather than Mansfield, despite the NG21 postcode.
Word from around the town
What homeowners across the Mansfield patch made of the work, in their own words.
"The back bedroom ceiling had a mark that came and went for two years and I'd stopped even noticing it. When Babet hit it turned into a proper leak overnight. They came out two days later, found a split flashing round the chimney - nowhere near where the stain was - and had it done in a morning. Showed me photos of the fault before and after. The quote and the invoice were the same number, which I'm told is rarer than it should be."
"Ours is one of the old colliery houses and the ridge had been shedding bits of mortar onto the path for months. I expected to be told we needed a new roof - the bloke next door had been quoted for exactly that by someone else. Instead they rebedded the ridge, refixed four tiles and told me the rest of the roof was fine for years yet. Charged a fraction of what I'd braced myself for."
"Water was streaming down the front of the house whenever it rained hard and I assumed the worst about the roof. Turned out the gutter had lost its fall and was tipping everything over the edge in one spot. They reset the brackets, sorted a joint, checked the gully at the bottom and were gone within a couple of hours. Also pointed out a slate that wants watching next year rather than fixing now - appreciated that."
"Bought a 1900s terrace near the town centre and the survey flagged the chimney. Two other firms quoted to take it down entirely. These lads went up, told me the stack itself was sound and it just needed repointing with the right mortar, new flaunching and a cap on the dead flue. Three years on the chimney breast is bone dry. Kept the chimney, saved about two grand."
"The extension roof had ponded for years and every couple of winters someone would patch it and it would come back. They were the first to explain the actual problem - no fall on the deck - and quoted to sort that rather than just laying another layer of felt over it. New rubber roof, water actually runs off it now. You get told the truth, which is worth paying for on its own."
Been a customer?
A short review is the most useful thing you can give a local firm - it tells the next household in Mansfield with a dripping ceiling who they can trust with it.
Areas we cover
Blidworth is one of the villages we cover. Find your own area below, or see chimney repairs in other nearby towns.
Pot loose or lead lifting on your Blidworth chimney?
Get it looked at before the next blow makes it worse. The survey is free, you'll get photos of every face of the stack, and the written price shows exactly what's needed.