Age and type of house
Galleting is missing from the joints of a flint wall and the flints themselves are still tight. What of the joint, not the stone, is the note?
The note is the missing galleting in the joints, not the flints. The flints are still tight, so the stone is not what the survey has faulted. Galleting is the small stones pressed into the mortar of a flint wall. Where those stones have gone, the joint is the open part: rain can sit in the mortar and the joint can weather back while the flints stay put. The survey recorded missing gallets and tight flints. It has not specified a repointing mix.
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?
Flint walls lose their joints long before the flints themselves fall out. Gallets reduce the bare mortar and help lock the joint. Missing galleting is therefore a joint note. It is not evidence the flints are loose, and it is not a damp-proofing specification. A hard cement mortar, if someone offers it, can trap moisture in a traditional flint face. The survey did not design the mix and did not test the wall as a damp diagnosis.
Ask a mason used to flint to look at the joints and to propose a compatible mortar, including whether gallets should go back. Tell the solicitor the defect is the joints, with the flints recorded as tight. Do not accept a price that rebuilds the wall as if the stone had failed. The survey has not called the elevation unstable. It has said the galleting, which is part of the joint, is missing.
What should you ask your surveyor?
- Is the galleting missing while the flints remain tight?
- Is the note the joint, rather than the stone?
- Has a repointing mix been left unspecified?
What are the typical next steps?
- Treat the missing gallets as a joint defect, not a flint defect.
- Ask a flint mason for a compatible mortar, not a hard cement face.
- Do not brief a rebuild of stone the survey recorded as tight.
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 a few flints are loose elsewhere, does this note cover them?
Not this sentence. Here the flints are still tight and the galleting is missing, so the note is the joint. Loose flints on another bay would be a different observation, and this report has not made it. Do not widen a joint note into a story that the stone has failed all along the wall.
Does missing galleting mean the wall is letting rain into the rooms?
Not proved. Missing gallets leave the mortar more exposed, which is how joints weather. The survey has not shown water reaching the inside, and it has not specified a damp treatment. The note stays on the joint. Interior damp, if it exists, would need its own look rather than being assumed from the missing stones in the mortar.