Damp chimney inside and out

[Jon O'Neill]

Hi, Does anyone know how easy it would be to dry out this chimney breast, and what is causing the dampness inside and out? from the wide shot of the outside you can see that both chimney breasts down the side of the house are damp. Nearly all the original fireplaces are covered, is this part of the cause?

 

[Jon O'Neill]

These are photos of the bottom of the outside wall, where some kind of damp proofing has taken place.

 

[vinn]

Thanks for posting a bunch of pics - it really helps us to help you.

The gable wall shows soot lines (the dark brickwork) that follow the flues up to the stacks - this implies that the flues need sweeping and ventilating top and bottom.
All fireplaces have individual flues - the flues are not shared even though they might run up in the same chimney breast and stack.

The fraudsters & criminals who pretend to remedial knowledge have done a number on the outside of what appears to be a solid wall?
The dark blue brick courses are engineering bricks & were the original DPC.
There's a fillet of sand and cement at the base of the wall - remove ir.
And attempts to patch where the brick face has failed - it looks terrible and never works.

I'll come back to this post in a couple of hours, right now I'm going to watch the match.

 

[Jon O'Neill]

Thanks a lot for your reply Vinn. Enjoy the match!!

Few quick questions:
Is this cement they have slapped on the wall in places and pointed with? Should this be removed and re-done with lime? I think the house is Victorian (1900 ish)

Are the green bungs (two in each brick), and the holes they have drilled two bricks higher a cause for concern? They run most of the way around the house.

So you're saying sweeping out the chimneys and opening up the fireplaces should help the damp?

Are you saying remove the fillet of sand and cement at the base of the wall?

Thanks a lot

 

[Doggit]

You've obviously had a problem that they've attempted to correct before. The blue bricks may well be a form of DPC, but the mortar would allow moisture to creep up past it, so I'm not saying that Vinns wrong, but it may not be working. The green bungs are where they have done a chemical injection in the bricks, and then attempted to try again using a silicone DPC in the mortar course.

Other than that, follow Vinns advice.

 

[vinn]

The sand & cement patches should be removed, likewise the lower beds of pointing need raking out & re-pointing with a sand & lime 3:1 mix.
Probably much of your pointing needs to be re-done properly.
In the long run the any badly damaged bricks should be removed, and replaced by sound bricks.
Close up gable pics of the sooty flue lines will indicate the condition of the bricks and pointing on the back walls of the flues.
You can see replacement bricks on the front flue line.

The chemical injection holes have been drilled on two different occasions. They are not a cause for concern but they look so unsightly.
Is there any evidence of similar holes inside the property?
The rubber "bungs" should be replaced with plugs of sand and lime coloured to match the bricks.

When the fillets have been removed, clean up the brickwork.
I suspect that the pathway(?) has been raised too high.
The metal air vents, ventilating below the suspended floor(s), should be replaced with plastic 9" x 6" air bricks installed every 2m to 2.5m.
What purpose do the higher various vents serve - the ones higher up the wall(s)?
Do you have a celler - one pic shows what looks like a blocked off coal shute?

All flues must be opened up and swept & vented etc. as above.
Some of the interior "damp" signs will possibly be salts from the sooty flues.
Or a combination of salts & penetrating damp.

Best practice is to remove all damp and contaminated plaster from walls and c/breasts & render with sand & lime at a 3:1 mix.

Given the high pathway & various indicators you should get into the crawl space and examine all wall plates and joist tails for wet rot.

 

[Jon O'Neill]

The sand & cement patches should be removed, likewise the lower beds of pointing need raking out & re-pointing with a sand & lime 3:1 mix.
Probably much of your pointing needs to be re-done properly.
In the long run the any badly damaged bricks should be removed, and replaced by sound bricks.
Close up gable pics of the sooty flue lines will indicate the condition of the bricks and pointing on the back walls of the flues.
You can see replacement bricks on the front flue line.

Hi Vinn, Thanks for this. I do have some closer up images of the gable , but they aren't that close unfortunately:

The chemical injection holes have been drilled on two different occasions. They are not a cause for concern but they look so unsightly.
Is there any evidence of similar holes inside the property?
The rubber "bungs" should be replaced with plugs of sand and lime coloured to match the bricks.

I haven't noticed holes drilled inside the property, but need to go back and have a better look.

When the fillets have been removed, clean up the brickwork.
I suspect that the pathway(?) has been raised too high.
The metal air vents, ventilating below the suspended floor(s), should be replaced with plastic 9" x 6" air bricks installed every 2m to 2.5m.
What purpose do the higher various vents serve - the ones higher up the wall(s)?
Do you have a celler - one pic shows what looks like a blocked off coal shute?

I'm not sure what the higher air vents do outside. From inside the property I can see one white vent to the left of the fireplace: (Pictured)

Yes there is a cellar. I'm not entirely sure where that loosely bricked up (they are removable) hole goes:

All flues must be opened up and swept & vented etc. as above.
Some of the interior "damp" signs will possibly be salts from the sooty flues.
Or a combination of salts & penetrating damp.

Thanks

 

[vinn]

Thanks for the additional pics.
You will need a scaffold to work at the gable heights - hire a scaff when you intend to do any other high work on the property.
All perished bricks need to be replaced and the re-pointing hack-out should be to a depth of 20mm min.

Take a measurement of the depth of one or two DPC holes - if its less than 100mm then the wall has only been drilled from the outside to a shallow depth. We dont even know if solvent DPC fluid was injected?

The vent near to the c/breast may have been installed to supply make-up air to a gas fire?
Any vents that dont penetrate to the interior then they can be removed.
IMO: Interior c/breast flues should be ventilated from the interior.

Open up the blocked area and expose whats there for a pic.

FWIW: the bay flat roof with a parapet should be carefully examined for soundness,
Likewise the fibre cement tiles on the cheeks of the dormer(s).

 

[Jon O'Neill]

Thanks Vinns I'll look into this.

Are these the Dormers? the grey sides of the section coming out of the roof?

 

[vinn]

Yes

 

[Jon O'Neill]

Open up the blocked area and expose whats there for a pic.

Also another one near front door:

FWIW: the bay flat roof with a parapet should be carefully examined for soundness,
Likewise the fibre cement tiles on the cheeks of the dormer(s).

inside house under parapet seems to be leaking.

 

[Jon O'Neill]

Dormer sides:

 

[Jon O'Neill]

Thanks for the additional pics.
You will need a scaffold to work at the gable heights - hire a scaff when you intend to do any other high work on the property.
All perished bricks need to be replaced and the re-pointing hack-out should be to a depth of 20mm min.

Will all this cement need removing?

Take a measurement of the depth of one or two DPC holes - if its less than 100mm then the wall has only been drilled from the outside to a shallow depth. We dont even know if solvent DPC fluid was injected?

the exposed holes are yes about 100mm deep . Is that an issue?

The vent near to the c/breast may have been installed to supply make-up air to a gas fire?
Any vents that dont penetrate to the interior then they can be removed.
IMO: Interior c/breast flues should be ventilated from the interior.

The vent near the fireplace just goes straight outside it seems. What is the material used here? does this not sit well with the 1900's bricks?

 

[Jon O'Neill]

Inside and out showing wall construction:

 

[Jon O'Neill]

Hi Vinns, sorry for all the photos. So we've found a "do-er up-er" , but would be good to get your opinion on whether it will just be a money pit! and massive stress, the price is ok, but we could beat them down a bit more. Do you see anything which is a cause for concern? We want to make it into a family home (no children yet), floors back to boards, open up the fireplaces, near kitchen, bathrooms etc