Chimney pot

[philpjuk100]

Very windy here at the moment,were woken by a noise which I have traced to a large chimney pot rocking in the wind,the roof is too high for me to reach with my ladders and it is far too windy to be up there anyway,it is too early to phone builders.I have looked for something long enough to push up the chimney but cannot find anything.It is only moving a small amount.Weather forcast says the wind will slacken during the day.Locked the back gate to prevent anyone from passing through the area at risk and just to complicate matters I have a hospital appointment this morning!have just compiled a list of builders phone numbers and hope to find one who treats it as urgent! phil. its the biggest pot in the pic.

 

[Penners]

Oops! Of course, it's not just passers-by who are at risk - it's your roof, too! I hope you can get it fixed double-quick.

 

[worms]

Not a good start to the day, hope the wind dies down soon - we have a calm morning now after a couple of really wild days, so I hope you are getting the same.

In this sort of instance, is it worth letting the insurance company know? Does alerting them now, pre-warn them of an impending claim and reassure them that you are on the case, or does it give them a let-out as a pre-existing issue if there is subsequent damage?

 

[philpjuk100]

Trying to call churchill insurance,on hold,music,been ten mins now,will have to ring off and start ringing round builders again! Oh thank you for waiting we will answer you call as soon as possible!! ah! nice calming music,all this from an emergency helpline!

 

[Penners]

Always remember:

Your call is important to us

 

[CliffordPope]

Remember that contacting the insurance company flags up an "incident" which you will always have to disclose when getting insurance quotes.

if you want something that will reach up the chimney, why not sweeping rods? Is the idea to lend a bit of support to limit the rocking or catch it if it really moved? What about binding a stouter pole to the last rod section, which would offer some bracing against the inside of the chimney?

 

[88v8]

If the pot stays up there, insurance wouldn't pay as the cause of loosening is gradual wear & tear.
If it falls off, you've already taken appropriate steps.
If you call the insurer, then whatever happens they will count it as at least a potential claim and up will go your premium. So, I wouldn't.

Most hire cos will hire you a cat ladder if you need one. They can be quite tricky to hoik onto the roof if you're not accustomed. Your ground ladder is best tied to the house at the top, so you have something to push against - I put a big ring into a rafter-end for that purpose.

Ivor

 

[philpjuk100]

Oh dear,I have contacted churchill and been given a claim number and should be contacted by an asessor.Not been able to get anyone to do anything yet,phoned loads,left lots of voicemails ,some said they were busy or would get back to me and didnt,one said he will call round at 6pm but I wont hold my breath! wind has dropped a little and the forcast is for rain!i dont think this is something I can do myself,not too good at heights and in my late 60s.tried to push a length of timber up but it seems to go around a bend.

 

[LadyArowana]

Oh dear,I have contacted churchill and been given a claim number and should be contacted by an asessor.Not been able to get anyone to do anything yet,phoned loads,left lots of voicemails ,some said they were busy or would get back to me and didnt,one said he will call round at 6pm but I wont hold my breath! wind has dropped a little and the forcast is for rain!i dont think this is something I can do myself,not too good at heights and in my late 60s.tried to push a length of timber up but it seems to go around a bend.

Do you have a cat? Fling kitty onto the roof and call the fire brigade. I'm very very surprised that Penners didn't suggest this already.

 

[philpjuk100]

Great idea! but "freddo" the ginger moggy says he will not go out in this weather! had a visit from one builder who tells me the pot is unlikely to come down and he can repair it on sat afternoon,nobody else seems to want the work!(have phoned 19 builders/roofers) He says he will have to use "quick set cement" is this ok? the brickwork was laid with lime but repointed with cement mortar (the house is over 400 years old but has had lots of work since) price quoted is £100/£150 ,seems reasonable to me with the access problems. I know it`s only a quote and may change when he gets up there.Thanks for all advice,phil.

 

[Zebra]

If the chimney pot is large, then there will hopefully be a reasonable proportion of it which is beneath the flaunching, will there not? If so, then even though it is rocking about, it will probably not actually fall out. Your quote from the chap that will do Saturday afternoon sounds a reasonable price, and I believe that even where chimneys are pointed with lime, it is common to have the flaunching in cement, I know mine does. Therefore if he is planning to redo the flaunching in cement, I would imagine this would be appropriate. But I'm no expert, I hasten to add, if others wish to contradict me... Your precautions about avoiding pedestrians in the area sound sensible, but don't get too stressed, it will probably hold til Saturday, I imagine.

 

[philpjuk100]

Hi,thanks for your advice,the builder said that he thought the pot would go down a few brick courses which would allow movement but stop it coming down unless the wind gets any worse.The loss adjuster that the insurers told me would contact me in "an hour or two" never did,and the two replys from "mybuilder,com"were from over 150 miles away one of which could not come for a month or two,even though I had marked it urgent! Had a hospital appointment this morning which I phoned to pospone and was told it was too late to pospone and I would be marked as a "did not show" not a good day,but now the wind has dropped not as bad as it might have been! thanks for the advice,phil. (best wishes to Henry hope he is soon well again!) the only pic I have showing the position of the pot was during the snow,it is on the left hand stack,even though we only have two stories it is still a long way up! as we have nine pots i might ask the builder to check the others while he is here,a stitch in time and all that!

 

[agbagb]

We had a bit of discussion on pot flaunching etc. here http://periodproperty.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=13341&start=45. hope that works.
I think we came to the conclusion that it would be good if big pots where set in to the brickwork, but many aren't. Ours big pots were re-flauched with OPC after the top of the stack was rebuilt, they aren't set down in to the brick.
Hopefully yours will just need a flaunching repair that can be done from a crawler although it might turn in to a bigger job after closer inspection. £100 -£150 sounds about right and worth it to keep you off the roof, even it ends up being just a temporary repair.

 

[philpjuk100]

The builder and his mate turned up at the time arranged,were soon up on the roof,removed all the old loose flaunching,cleaned the area and replaced it with five buckets of quick set cement mortar,brushed the roof,cleaned the gutter and charged me £150,telling me that the rest of the chimney was sound,a great result! It took me eighteen phone calls before I found him,put his number in the phone book.Must phone churchill and cancel the claim,a much happier phil!

 

[Zebra]

Very glad you got it sorted, and that your worries of it falling off are over. Sounds like he was a nice genuine chap too, which is always good to find.

 

[Penners]

Well worth the 18 calls, I'd say! He sounds like a good, honest guy.