Hi,
I have a old fireplace in the kitchen that has rising damp around the bottom of the chimney breast on both sides. I had a damp specialist have a look a while ago, and they said that they would take the plaster back to brick about 1.3 meters above the damp area and inject a damp proof coarse into the brick around the ground level.
I decided that I will try and get to the root of the issue instead of covering it up with a chemical damp proof.
So I noticed that the fender wall infill for the hearth looked to be dirt as well as hardcore, and started to take out the hearth and see were the damp is coming from. I now see that the infill of the hearth is mainly dirt, and this seems to be bringing up damp from the ground to the wall plaster.
I have started to remove the infill, is this safe to remove all of the infill without compromising the fireplace structure? it looks like the middle inside the fireplace is just infill rubble as well, I was expecting it to be brick to the ground for all of the chimney breast. see photos attached.
I was going to remove all of the infill, including under the fireplace, then put down DPC and fill it in with clean hardcore or bricks, then re-lay the concrete hearth.
Would this be the right way of doing this?
Thanks in advance.
I have a old fireplace in the kitchen that has rising damp around the bottom of the chimney breast on both sides. I had a damp specialist have a look a while ago, and they said that they would take the plaster back to brick about 1.3 meters above the damp area and inject a damp proof coarse into the brick around the ground level.
I decided that I will try and get to the root of the issue instead of covering it up with a chemical damp proof.
So I noticed that the fender wall infill for the hearth looked to be dirt as well as hardcore, and started to take out the hearth and see were the damp is coming from. I now see that the infill of the hearth is mainly dirt, and this seems to be bringing up damp from the ground to the wall plaster.
I have started to remove the infill, is this safe to remove all of the infill without compromising the fireplace structure? it looks like the middle inside the fireplace is just infill rubble as well, I was expecting it to be brick to the ground for all of the chimney breast. see photos attached.
I was going to remove all of the infill, including under the fireplace, then put down DPC and fill it in with clean hardcore or bricks, then re-lay the concrete hearth.
Would this be the right way of doing this?
Thanks in advance.