Chimney Repairs · Clipstone NG21
Chimney Repairs In Clipstone
Is your Clipstone chimney still the one the Bolsover company built?
Repointing, lead and crowns for shared and end-terrace stacks across the colliery village and Kings Clipstone
Clipstone's 648 company houses all went up in the 1920s, and their chimneys have aged in step ever since. Houfton's steep pitches put the stack on a First Avenue semi a long way above the gutter, and many sit on the party wall between two homes. That shapes how we handle chimney repairs in Clipstone. Safe access gets priced properly, both owners are involved when a stack is shared, and we look at the corbelled brickwork and old lead before deciding anything. Most stacks here need pointing, a new crown or new lead. Very few need rebuilding, and you'll see the photos either way.
Free chimney repairs survey in Clipstone
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 Clipstone surveys
Itemised fixed prices
8 minutes from base
Who does the work
Chris doesn't come down off a stack early
Chris runs the roofing. He grew up locally, has been on roofs since his teens and now has more than 20 years behind him, so the tall, shared chimneys you get on 1920s colliery housing are nothing new to him. Steep roofs and awkward stacks are where that experience earns its keep.
Once the lead's off or the joints are raked out, the job carries on until the roof is watertight again, and Chris will work late to make sure it is. The team feel the same way. They're proud to work for a business that cares about the customer more than money or perks, and they do it right however long it takes.
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 trouble on Clipstone's steep roofs
On houses this tall and steep, most people spot a chimney problem from the garden or the loft. These are the four we're asked about most.
Bits of brick or mortar on the tiles below the stack
The stepped corbel courses under an end-terrace stack are shedding. Those projecting bricks catch rain on their top edges, and once the joints soften, pieces start dropping down the slope.
A wet patch on both sides of the party wall in the loft
If next door has the same stain, the water is almost certainly coming in through the shared stack, not through either roof. Fixing only one half rarely cures it.
Lead that has lifted, or a gap along its top edge
The lead was tucked into a mortar joint that has since crumbled, and it's pulled free. On a pitch this steep, water runs fast down the back of the stack and finds that gap.
A pot that's tilting or cracked
The crown around it has broken up. A heavy pot coming off at that height breaks tiles all the way down a steep roof, so it's worth sorting before it falls.
How we handle chimney repairs on Clipstone's company houses
Access planned for the pitch
Houfton designed these roofs steep to carry pantiles. We plan a tower or scaffold to suit the stack rather than balancing on a roof ladder at the ridge, and it's priced as its own line.
Shared stacks treated as one job
With your neighbour's agreement, both sides are pointed and leaded together. That costs less per house than two visits and stops the leak returning from next door.
Corbels looked at closely
The stepped courses under end-terrace stacks are checked and repointed brick by brick, because that's where the stack's weight meets the gable.
Lead dressed into the joints
New flashings are wedged into raked-out joints and dressed to the tiles. We don't rely on sealant or tape where lead belongs.
Gable vents kept clear
If the stack is near one of the brick air vents in the gable, we make sure nothing from the repair ends up blocking it.
Ten year written guarantee
Our workmanship is covered for ten years, in writing, from the day we finish.
Six hundred and forty-eight chimneys built in one go
The Bolsover Colliery Company didn't build Clipstone slowly. Coal was reached in 1922, and by the end of that decade the company had put up 648 houses on a grid of avenues around an oval circus, every one of them with a chimney. Houfton & Kington drew them with steep roofs and gables facing the street. A century on, those stacks are reaching the same stage of life together, and the shared ones carry double the trouble, because one owner's repair can't fix the neighbour's half. The headstocks get the listing, the attention and the arguments, while the stacks on the avenues just quietly get older. If the chimney's on your list, the flat roofs on the back additions probably deserve a look while someone's up there.
"A lot of Clipstone chimney calls start with one neighbour noticing a stain, and the other admitting they've had the same one for a while."
From chimney repairs enquiries Roof Repairs Mansfield handles in Clipstone
The five steps of a Clipstone chimney repair
Free survey, outside and in
We check the stack and its lead from the roof, then go into the loft to look at the party wall and the timbers beside the breast.
Photos and one price
Every face of the stack is photographed. You get a single written, itemised price, with the scaffold or tower listed apart from the work.
Work exactly as quoted
Pointing, crown, lead or a cap, as agreed. On a shared stack, both sides are done in the same visit with your neighbour's say-so.
Proof and a tidy site
Photos of the finished chimney, and every bit of rubble, old lead and broken pot taken away with us.
A guarantee in writing
The 10 year workmanship guarantee is handed over with the photos at the end.
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
Before you pick someone for a Clipstone chimney
Three questions that tell you whether a roofer has actually thought about your stack or just priced it from the pavement.
How are you getting up there?
On a roof this steep, most chimney work wants a tower or scaffold. If access isn't on the quote, it'll either turn up later or get skipped.
What about next door's side?
A good roofer will raise the shared stack before you do. Pointing your half alone often leaves the water coming in through theirs.
Lead, or flashing tape?
Self-adhesive tapes have their uses, but on a stack you're keeping, lead lasts longest. Ask what they're fitting and why.
Lead Flashing Or Flexible Flashing Tape?
When the flashing round a Clipstone stack fails, there are two common fixes. One is quicker, and the other lasts.
| Comparison point | Lead, dressed into the joints | Self-adhesive flashing tape |
|---|---|---|
| Lifespan | Decades when it's fitted properly | Years rather than decades; the grip weakens as it ages |
| How it's fixed | Wedged into a raked-out mortar joint and dressed to the tiles | Stuck onto the surface of the brick and tile |
| On old, dusty brick | Doesn't depend on the brick face | Needs a clean, sound surface; crumbly brick makes it peel |
| Upfront cost | More time and material | Cheaper and quicker to put on |
| Best use | The lasting repair on a stack you're keeping | A stopgap, or small details where lead isn't practical |
What affects the price of chimney repairs in Clipstone
Our price guide has new flaunching and rebedded pots at often a few hundred pounds, and a full repoint with new lead mostly in the low four figures. On a Clipstone house, these four things decide where in that range you end up.
The pitch and the height
The steep 1920s roofs on First Avenue and the avenues round it usually need a tower or scaffold for chimney work, and the same goes for the older houses along Mansfield Road. That cost is real, and it's listed separately so you can see it.
Shared or not
A party stack done together with your neighbour costs each of you less than two separate jobs. If you go ahead alone, the whole stack still needs inspecting.
Corbels as well as the top
If the corbelled courses under the stack need repointing as well as the crown, there's more brickwork to rake out. The photos show how far down it goes.
While the scaffold's up
If other roof work is planned, adding the chimney while access is already in place is the cheapest it will ever be.
Clipstone chimney questions
Do I need Newark & Sherwood's permission for chimney work in Clipstone?
Clipstone comes under Newark & Sherwood District Council, not Mansfield, despite the Mansfield postal address most houses have. Repointing, a new crown or new lead on an ordinary house needs no permission, and taking a stack down on an unlisted house is normally permitted development too. The Grade II listing in the village covers the headstocks and powerhouse, not the homes around them, so it doesn't change anything for your chimney. If your own house is listed, that's different, and we'd check with the council first.
Our stack is shared with next door. Who pays for the repair?
A stack on the party wall is both owners' responsibility. You can maintain your own side, but anything structural needs your neighbour's agreement, and the Party Wall Act may come into it. We'll quote the whole stack, show how the cost splits, and speak to next door if that helps.
Next door in Clipstone just had their chimney done. Should I get mine checked?
It's worth it. The company houses went up within a few years of each other to the same designs, so neighbouring stacks tend to share their faults. Theirs being done doesn't mean yours needs the same, but it's a good moment to have someone look.
Can you take down a chimney we don't use?
We can. A detached stack is fairly simple. On a shared one you can usually only remove your side above the roofline, and what's left needs proper support. Plenty of owners find a vented cap and fresh pointing does the job for less.
What's the cheapest fix for a leaking chimney?
If the crown is cracked or a pot is loose, a new crown is about as cheap as chimney work gets, and a vented cap on a disused flue is cheap too. Which one you need depends on where the water is getting in, and finding that is what the survey is for.
What to do in Clipstone
Clipstone's pit history is everywhere you look, and some much older history is just down the road.
Vicar Water Country Park
A country park of around 80 hectares made from old colliery tips, with Vicar Pond in the middle. The 5th Duke of Portland dammed the pond as a fishery in the 1870s, and it's still fished for coarse species.
Find it on Google Maps : Vicar Water Country Park
Clipstone Headstocks
Built by the National Coal Board in the early 1950s and listed Grade II in 2000, the two lattice towers hold Koepe friction winders. Mansfield Road and the far side of Vicar Pond give the best views.
Find it on Google Maps : Clipstone Headstocks
King John's Palace, Kings Clipstone
What's left of a royal hunting lodge used by kings from Henry II to Richard II. It's a scheduled monument on private farmland, best seen from the roadside in Kings Clipstone.
Find it on Google Maps : King John's Palace, Kings ClipstoneFinding Clipstone
Clipstone is around 8 minutes from us. It falls under Newark & Sherwood District Council rather than Mansfield, which surprises plenty of people with a Mansfield postal address.
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
Clipstone is one of several towns and villages we cover around Mansfield. Find yours in the list.
Have your Clipstone chimney checked from the top
We'll go up, photograph the whole stack and its lead, look in the loft and give you one written price. If the stack is shared, we're happy to talk to your neighbour too.