Chimney Scaffold for Flue Lining on Sandstone Villa, Penrith

A homeowner in Penrith was having a wood-burning stove installed and needed the main chimney lined with a flexible stainless steel flue liner. The property — a four-bedroom house built from red Penrith sandstone in the 1880s — has a tall central chimney with four flues. The HETAS installer required scaffold access to the chimney head for lowering the liner, fitting the terminal cowl and re-flaunching.

The installer also identified significant mortar deterioration across the upper stack courses. The homeowner combined the flue lining with a full chimney repointing — a sensible decision avoiding a second scaffold hire. Penrith’s soft red sandstone is particularly vulnerable to frost damage once mortar joints open up, so catching it early protected the stack’s long-term integrity.

We erected a dedicated chimney scaffold rising from an independent base to a full working platform around all four sides of the chimney head. The platform allowed both the flue installer and stone mason to work simultaneously on different faces, compressing the programme.

A staircase access route from ground level and a dedicated material hoist point completed the installation. Protective pads at every tie position prevented marking the soft sandstone — standard on all our work in the Penrith area.

The chimney sits at a complex roof junction where two valley gutters meet the stack base. We used extended transoms to bridge over the valley areas, transferring loads to the independent base rather than to the fragile lead valley linings or slate courses.

Penrith’s red sandstone is notably soft. Every scaffold contact point was padded with non-marking felt, and tie positions were agreed with the homeowner to avoid dressed stone features and the carved date stone above the rear door. A straightforward delivery via the front garden made this an efficient chimney scaffold project in the Eden Valley.