Age and type of house
A wood burner has been fitted in a thatched house. Has the home survey proved the flue liner where it passes the thatch?
No. A wood burner fitted in a thatched house does not prove the flue liner where it passes the thatch. The surveyor sees the stove, the hearth and a liner only where it shows at the fireplace or the pot. They do not camera the flue or sweep it. Flues are looked at visually, not safety-tested. Thatch beside a hot flue needs its own specialist look, not a pass written from the living room.
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?
Thatch is a thick combustible coat. The risky length of a liner is the length you cannot see, where it travels through the roof space and out through the coat. A shiny terminal or a liner visible in the fireplace only proves those two spots. The survey does not drill the thatch, does not use a flue camera and does not measure clearances as a commissioning engineer would. If the loft under the thatch was not entered, the hidden length is simply not inspected. Services stay visual.
Do not light the stove because the room looks complete, and do not tell an insurer the installation was certified by the home survey. A competent solid-fuel check is a different instruction. The survey can still rate the thatch coat, the chimney masonry and any scorch or staining it could see. Those comments are not a liner certificate. If the report recommends further investigation before use, take that as a limit on the purchase decision, not as a slogan. The surveyor has not swept the flue.
What should you ask your surveyor?
- Where exactly was a liner visible, and where was the run through the thatch hidden?
- Was the roof space under the thatch entered, or is that length not inspected?
- Are you rating the stove installation as seen, rather than certifying it for use?
What are the typical next steps?
- Do not use the burner until a competent person has checked the flue through the thatch.
- Tell that person the home survey did not camera the liner.
- Keep the thatch condition and the flue as two separate questions.
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 pot looks new, has the liner through the coat been proved?
No. A new pot is a pot. The path through the thatch was not proved unless it was seen, which a room visit rarely achieves.
Does the survey test the stove the way a sweep would?
No. Flues are visual only. They are not safety-tested, swept or commissioned as part of the home survey.