Age and type of house
A lime fillet has been used instead of lead where a lean-to meets a stone wall. Why is that fillet a maintenance item the survey can describe, not a modern flashing it has approved?
Not an approved modern flashing: the lime fillet where the lean-to meets the stone wall is a maintenance item the survey can describe. It is mortar used instead of lead at that junction. The survey can say it is there, whether it is cracked, and whether water has a path at the joint. It has not approved the fillet as a modern flashing. Lime at a wall abutment is not the same detail as a lead flashing, and describing it does not upgrade it.
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?
Older junctions often carry a mortar fillet where later work would use lead dressed into the wall. The fillet can shrink, crack and let water through at the lean-to. That is why it belongs with maintenance: it needs watching and, in time, proper attention. None of that is a design approval. The surveyor is not signing the fillet off as equivalent to lead, and is not giving it a life in years. The sentence stays descriptive. It is what was seen at the stone wall.
Ask for the note to name the material, the junction and any crack or staining, without a line that calls it satisfactory as a flashing. When you ask a roofer to look, ask them to price the junction that exists, not a generic lead detail they have not seen, and do not invent a figure yourself. Keep the fillet separate from the rest of the lean-to covering. The survey has described a maintenance item. It has not approved a modern flashing.
What should you ask your surveyor?
- Is the fillet described as lime at the junction, not as approved lead?
- What cracks or staining did you see where the lean-to meets the stone?
- Have you avoided calling the fillet a modern flashing?
What are the typical next steps?
- Read the lime fillet as a maintenance item at the junction.
- Do not treat the survey as approval of a modern flashing.
- Ask a roofer to look at that fillet, not at a detail it is not.
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 fillet is uncracked today, has it been approved?
No. An uncracked fillet is only a condition on the day. It is still not a modern flashing the survey has approved at the stone wall.
Does repainting the fillet turn it into lead?
No. Paint does not change the material. The junction is still a lime fillet the survey can describe, not a lead flashing it has accepted.