What Does It Cost to Line a Chimney?

The five cost drivers

Almost every liner quote can be explained by five things. Once you know which of them apply to your house, the number stops being mysterious.

• Length of the drop: a bungalow stack and a three storey townhouse are different jobs
• Liner grade: heavier duty stainless costs more per metre
• Access: ladder work, roof access or full scaffold
• Insulation and backfill around the liner
• Condition at the top: pot, flaunching, clamp plate and cowl

Typical UK ranges

Across the UK market, supply and fit of a flexible stainless liner in a standard two storey house commonly lands in the several hundred to low four figure range once insulation, a terminal and the associated flue components are included. A single storey property with easy access sits at the lower end. A tall stack needing scaffold sits well above it, because the access alone can rival the cost of the liner.

Those are market ranges, not our prices. Ours are given in writing after a survey, itemised so the liner, the appliance and the fitting are all visible separately.

What can add cost after the survey

The honest list is short. A stack in poor repair may need flaunching or pot work before a liner should go anywhere near it. A flue with a serious offset may need a different approach. A breached flue shared with a neighbour changes the scope entirely.

All three are things a camera survey normally finds beforehand, which is exactly why the survey happens before the quote rather than after the deposit.

Where saving money is sensible and where it is not

Sensible savings: booking outside the autumn rush, combining the liner with other work while access equipment is already up, and choosing an appliance that suits the flue rather than one that forces a larger liner.

False economies: skipping insulation, accepting a liner sized to the stack rather than the appliance, or leaving a failing pot in place because it is not strictly part of the liner. Each one costs more within a few seasons than it saved on the day.

Reading two quotes side by side

Ask three questions of each: what diameter and grade of liner, is insulation included, and what happens at the top of the stack. If both quotes answer identically and the prices still differ, the difference is access or labour. If they answer differently, you were never comparing the same job.

What is included in a properly written liner price

A quote that simply says lining and a number is not a quote, it is a hope. The version worth having lists the liner length, its diameter and grade, the insulation or backfill, the components at each end, the terminal, the access method and the making good.

That level of detail protects both sides. It means nobody discovers on the day that the pot needed rebedding and nobody argues afterwards about whether a cowl was included. It also makes the price genuinely comparable with the next contractor's, which is the entire point of getting more than one.

• Liner length, diameter and stainless grade
• Insulation or backfill around the liner
• Adaptor at the appliance and clamp plate at the top
• Cowl or terminal type
• Access method, including scaffold if it is needed
• Sweeping of the existing flue and removal of debris

Budgeting the whole project, not just the liner

People often budget for the stove, then meet the liner, then meet the hearth. It is a demoralising order to find out in. A survey gives you all three numbers at once, and it is free, so there is little sense in doing it any other way.

If the total is more than you want to spend this year, say so plainly. There is often a sensible way to stage the work, or a different appliance that suits the flue you already have and takes a large slice out of the flue budget. What we will not do is quietly leave out something safety related to hit a number.

Getting a figure you can rely on

Liner pricing is impossible to do properly over the phone, and anybody who gives you a firm number without seeing the stack is guessing in a direction that suits them. Height, access and condition are all things you have to look at.

What we can do on the phone is give you the shape of it: whether the job sounds like a straightforward drop or something with masonry and access attached, and roughly where in the range that tends to land. Then a free survey turns that into a written figure that does not move.

If you have already had a quote elsewhere and want a second opinion on the scope rather than just the price, that is a perfectly good reason to call. Half the time the useful outcome is simply understanding what the first quote did and did not include.

The four things that move a liner price most

Liner prices vary widely between houses on the same street, which strikes people as odd until they see what actually drives the figure. Four things account for most of the spread, and none of them are negotiable in the sense that wishing them away changes the work.

Height comes first, because a three storey stack simply needs more liner and more access than a bungalow. Access comes second and can be the single largest line on a quote where scaffold is required. Condition comes third: a stack needing repointing, reflaunching or a new pot adds masonry work to what was a lining job. Grade and insulation come fourth, and are the part where a cheaper specification really does mean a shorter life.

• Stack height and therefore liner length
• Access, including whether scaffold is needed
• Condition of the stack, pot and flaunching
• Stainless grade and the insulation specified

Why the cheapest liner quote is often the most expensive one

There are only a few ways to make a liner quote dramatically cheaper than the next one, and most of them cost the customer money later. Leaving out insulation saves a modest amount on the day and produces a cooler flue, a lazier draught and more condensation for as long as the appliance is used.

Fitting a liner sized to the stack rather than to the appliance is another. So is leaving a cracked pot or failed flaunching in place, on the basis that it is not strictly part of the lining work, when the terminal has to be fixed to it.

None of that means the dearest quote is automatically the right one. It means the useful comparison is scope first and price second, in that order, every time.

How long the work takes and what it disrupts

A liner on a two storey house with reasonable access is typically part of a single day, running alongside the appliance fitting. Where scaffold is involved, the scaffold itself usually goes up beforehand and comes down afterwards, which spreads the job across a longer window even though the working time is unchanged.

Inside the house, disruption is concentrated at the fireplace and lasts a few hours. Outside, the noticeable part is roof access and the van. Neighbours in a terrace appreciate being told in advance, and we will always do that where a shared stack or a shared close is involved.

For landlords and letting agents

Where a property is let, the liner conversation usually sits alongside annual sweeping and documentation. It is generally worth doing the flue work properly at a void period rather than around tenants, and keeping the paperwork with the tenancy file so the next inspection is a formality.

Frequently asked questions