Chimneys and parapets
Flaunching is cracked and the pots have not shifted. Why is cracked flaunching a maintenance note rather than a leaning stack?
Cracked flaunching is a maintenance note because the pots have not shifted and the stack has not been described as leaning. Flaunching is the mortar that beds and weathers the pots at the top of the chimney. Cracks in that mortar can let rain into the top of the stack, so they are worth repairing. They are not, by themselves, a leaning chimney or a pot that is loose. The survey saw cracked mortar and pots still seated. It has not tested the flues and has not said the stack must come down.
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?
A leaning stack shows in the line of the brickwork, often with open joints or a tilt you can see against the roof. Flaunching is a small mortar job at the very top. When the pots sit where they were bedded and the stack looks upright, the defect stays on that mortar. Rain can still get into cracked flaunching and freeze, so the note is real maintenance. Promoting it to an unsafe stack invents a movement the inspection did not record.
A chimney contractor or a roofer who works on stacks can renew the flaunching and check the pots are still secure. Tell the solicitor the report is a mortar repair at the top, not a rebuild of a leaning chimney. The survey has not specified new pots and has not investigated the flue. If other notes mention a tilt, keep those separate. This question's finding is cracks with the pots still seated, and that is the scope to pass on.
What should you ask your surveyor?
- Did the pots remain seated, with the defect limited to cracked flaunching?
- Did you see any lean in the stack, or was the line still upright?
- Is this written as maintenance rather than as an unsafe chimney?
What are the typical next steps?
- Treat cracked flaunching as mortar maintenance while the pots are seated.
- Ask a chimney contractor to renew the flaunching and check the pots.
- Do not describe the stack as leaning on this note alone.
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
If the cracks are wide, has the stack become unsafe?
Wide cracks in flaunching still describe the mortar, not a lean. The survey recorded pots that had not shifted. It has not reclassified the stack as unsafe because the mortar is more open. No later decision about the flaunching was made, and this visit did not supply one.
Should the pots be replaced because the flaunching is cracked?
Not from the cracks alone. The pots had not shifted. The survey has not specified new pots, and a contractor may only need to renew the flaunching that beds them. What happens next for the pots is outside this note and was not settled here.