Chimneys and parapets
The flaunching is cracked around one pot, and the brick stack below looks fair. Which part should the rating be read against?
Because the flaunching is cracked around one pot while the brick stack below looks fair, read the rating against the flaunching. Flaunching is the mortar that weathers the top of the stack around the pots. A crack there is not a cracked stack, and a fair stack is not sound flaunching. The pot, the mortar crown and the brickwork are separate parts. This visit describes the crack it could see. It does not retire the stack, and it does not certify the flue.
Last reviewed 24 October 2026. Written for buyers in England and Wales unless this answer says otherwise. No named surveyor has signed this page. It is general guidance, not a report on your house, and not legal advice.
What is the fuller explanation?
Rain that enters cracked flaunching can track beside a pot or into the top courses even when the brick faces lower down still look even. That is why a fair stack does not cancel the crown. The surveyor is separating the top from the shaft of brick. Do not average them into one cheerful reading, and do not condemn the masonry the report has called fair. The crack belongs to the flaunching around that one pot.
A chimney contractor needs safe access to re-form the flaunching around the pot, and to say whether that pot is shattered or merely sitting in failed mortar. Ask the quotation to name flaunching, pot and stack as separate lines. If an appliance uses the flue, a competent installer or gas engineer deals with that installation. The home survey has not certified the flue. A new crown is not that certificate.
What should you ask your surveyor?
- Is the crack confined to the flaunching around one pot?
- What did you see in the brick stack that led you to call it fair?
- Could you see the flaunching closely, or only from the slope or the ground?
What are the typical next steps?
- Ask for a quotation that prices the flaunching separately from the stack.
- Do not let a fair stack delete the cracked flaunching from the work list.
- If the flue is in use, arrange a competent installer or gas engineer separately.
Costs vary with the building and with who you instruct. Where this page does not cite a published figure, ask the surveyor, a relevant specialist, or your solicitor for a written quote. Do not treat a forum average as the price.
Also asked about this
Does fair brickwork mean the flaunching can be ignored?
No. The stack and the flaunching are different parts. Fair brick lower down does not close a crack in the mortar around the pot.
Does cracked flaunching prove the pot must be replaced?
Not by itself. The crack is in the flaunching. The pot needs its own look before anyone includes a new pot in the price.