Do you know something about lead then?



All very valid comments!
The sloping shoulders were indeed a consideration for lead. Decided not to in the end for 4 reasons:-
- We found a definite leak, complete with water visibly running inside, in the crown of that chimney - now fixed
- Pointing on the shoulders was dreadful - new pointing should be much better at keeping the water out. Bricks are very hard and smooth and relatively impervious.
- It's not too bad to get up there again - could probably add leadwork to the shoulders off a scaffold tower (which I have)
- Availability of Quinn (the leadworker I use for everyone else's benefit) - he's a great bloke and the quality of his work is A1, but he's hard to pin down to a date. I've been waiting about 4 months for him to do my porch roof as it is! He has a plumbing contract on a hospital that just seems to be lasting forever and taking up all his time. In the meantime, the scaffold needed to come down.
Interestingly, another identical house to mine on the other side of my town has roofing tiles on those slopes, so someone else has had the same thoughts.
Lead damp course on the latest chimney - I agree, just not going to get time to get Quinn in to do it and haven't the skill to do it myself. There's not so much of a damp problem with that chimney - just a little stain on the corner of the ceiling below that only appears after very wet weather - and that's with a whacking great hole in the flaunching, straight into the flue, directly above.
What you're saying is very valid but it is "belt and braces", I'm hoping that belt or braces will do the job in this case. Not like me, usually belt and braces is how I like to do things....and I would in this case to be honest, it's just the practicalities of getting it done.
If I'm moaning on here in a year or two that I've redecorated and the damp has come through again, you have my full permission to say "I told you so!"
