A chimney sweep's certificate is on the mantel. Has the further investigation of the stack been completed?

What is the fuller explanation?

Stacks worry surveyors because of leaning masonry, open joints, failed flaunching, cracked pots and the way the chimney meets the roof. Those are condition points on the building. A sweep's visit is about the flue as a sweep deals with it, and the certificate is their record of that attendance. It can sit on the shelf for years. It does not describe the brickwork, it does not replace a rating, and it does not become the specialist look the report requested if the report wanted the stack itself investigated.

Read the survey sentence again and book what it names. If pots, flashings or stability are the issue, ask a person who will inspect those and write it down. The home survey was visual: it did not test appliances, it did not safety-test any flue as a service, and it does not guarantee concealed parts of the stack. Leave the certificate in the pack as a background paper. Do not photocopy it to the solicitor under the heading of the investigation. That heading stays empty until the stack inspection exists.

What should you ask your surveyor?

• Which stack defects did you want investigated, as distinct from a sweep of the flue?
• Does the certificate on the mantel answer any of those defects?
• What should a stack investigation report cover so it matches your paragraph?

What are the typical next steps?

1. Keep the sweep's certificate as evidence of a sweep, not of a stack investigation.
2. Instruct the stack inspection the survey actually named.
3. Do not file the mantel paper as the follow-up.

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

Which pages should you read next?

• Further investigation of the boiler means a gas engineer, not a second home survey. What does each instruction refuse to do?
• The Level 3 suspects asbestos and says this was not an asbestos inspection. Who is instructed next, and what must they avoid doing to the material?
• Nothing on the visit sampled helical stitching already in the wall, opened a request for a structural engineer or tested a survey that has not become that engineer's report. What has to stay undecided?
• Guide: What further investigations can a survey ask for?
• All UK home survey questions

Sources

• RICS: House surveys: the costs, types and benefits of an RICS home survey
• RICS: RICS Home Surveys (Home Survey Standard)
• RICS: Description of the RICS Home Survey Level 3 (condition rating definitions)