Damp in Chimney

[Nicky Simpson]

Hi all,

Thanks in advance for any help / advise it is all greatly appreciated.

I appear to have damp in the upstairs chimney breast. The chimney has been removed from the roof and is open in the loft as is the fire place in the bedroom. This is an outside wall.

I've had a roofer check the roof and he can see no problems from there. We do have a multi fuel stove flue sharing the chimney breast from downstairs. In the loft I can see any drips or water ingress when it is raining. I have had a moisture meter up there and can see the chimney has got some major moisture issues but just can't see where it would be coming from.

The damp patches to go away to an extent but reappear when it is cold / raining (it is always raining is the Lakes).

Could anyone give any pointers as to where to start to get this fixed.

Cheers

 

[blup]

How long has it been like that and has the room been recently redecorated? Did you remove the chimney and did that improve the situation?

Blup

 

[Nicky Simpson]

Hi Blup - I've only just noticed it to be honest - I've just moved in to the property about 9 months ago and the previous owner removed the chimney. We did paint the Chimney breast when we moved in but that was it.

Cheers

 

[blup]

Probably salts in the chimney (attracting moisture in the room) from historic use, and long term ingress of water from the chimney prior to its reduction.

You could leave it for another 6 months, and see how it progresses. It might get quite a bit worse if the chimney damp is only just starting to come through. Or it might settle in which case you could keep it under review or maybe create a plaster boarded stud wall around the fireplace as a feature if you want to hide the damp patch.

Blup

 

[Nicky Simpson]

Thanks Blup - I was thinking of stripping the plaster off the wall, putting salt inhibitor on, tanking slurry then dot and dab plaster board over, does that make sense?

 

[blup]

I've no experience with salt inhibitors, but found that seven coats of damp proof bitumen based paint kept penetrating damp at bay for quite a few years. Tanking is used by many but frowned upon by others who think it deals with the symptoms not the cause. Hacking the plaster off and letting it dry out whilst taking before and after moisture readings is another option. Ggod luck!

Blup

 

[RonnieE]

What is the age of the property?

 

[tell80]

Someone removed the chimney stack from above the roof and left the chimney breast open in the loft yet you are still getting obvius moisture on the chimney breast in the loft?. the chimney breast continues below in the bedroom with the fireplace and in the ground floor fireplace theres a stove?? The fireplace in the loft has its own seperate flue and the stove fireplace has its own flue. the stove must have a liner of some sort so where does the stove liner terminate - where do the fumes go?

The easiest way to deal with the bedroom stains is to knock off all the chimney breast plaster and then use a renderand sweep the flue to remove old soot. never use gypsum plaser as a damp remedy. can you post a pic showing the outside of the gable because moisture might be penetrating through the gable?