Dripping damp and stains on chimney breast.

Age of house - Lime motar? that does crack easily. That black hand you have I think is an indicator of a leaky chimney.

I think I'd be looking at getting a 'Smoke bomb' in the chimney to see if it's leaking and where they are.

Smoke bombs (https://www.toolstation.com/shop/p3...O9VWEvAIPt2KaY5I-JUym1xpQ1OMJKFxoCCQIQAvD_BwE) are used by Gas people to test the chimney integrity. When you set it off you need to have someone in the loft as well.

Edit :- it is worthwhile 'warming' the chimney first to ensure a good draw; try using a gas torch in the hearth pointing up the chimney for a period could be upto half a hour on a cold day.

I had a similar problem some years ago when I found the leak was in the brickwork at flashing line.

wgt52 said:

Age of house - Lime motar? that does crack easily. That black hand you have I think is an indicator of a leaky chimney.

I think I'd be looking at getting a 'Smoke bomb' in the chimney to see if it's leaking and where they are.

Smoke bombs (https://www.toolstation.com/shop/p3...O9VWEvAIPt2KaY5I-JUym1xpQ1OMJKFxoCCQIQAvD_BwE) are used by Gas people to test the chimney integrity. When you set it off you need to have someone in the loft as well.

Edit :- it is worthwhile 'warming' the chimney first to ensure a good draw; try using a gas torch in the hearth pointing up the chimney for a period could be upto half a hour on a cold day.

I had a similar problem some years ago when I found the leak was in the brickwork at flashing line.

Click to expand...

Thanks a lot for the advice, I never thought it could be soot as it seemed quite high above the chimney.

We've had a smoke test done and there a definite cracks between both flues so it failed the test. We don't have a working fire at the moment but we are getting a new thermocrete flue next Friday so we can have a small solid fuel fireplace. They have advised that the thermocrete will fill any cracks and holes, and then it will be worth getting pointed to protect the life of the chimney.

I'll wait until I've had both pieces of work done and update you with the outcome.

http://thermocrete.com/thermocrete-systems

Thanks again.

Sorry Martin, but you seem fixated on the thermocrete solution; this would seal the chimney from the inside, but would it deal with any leaks that are coming from the pointing and flashing etc. Find the cause of the leak, and then if you're installing a stove, why not fit a steel liner and an anti draught cowling.

Doggit said:

Sorry Martin, but you seem fixated on the thermocrete solution; this would seal the chimney from the inside, but would it deal with any leaks that are coming from the pointing and flashing etc. Find the cause of the leak, and then if you're installing a stove, why not fit a steel liner and an anti draught cowling.

Click to expand...

I've been trying to find the cause of the issue for quite some time, it's been an on going problem since we bought the house, and what looks like before we bought the house.

I initially had all the guttering/fascias replaced, based on advice from 3 different companies to fix the issue.
Still had a problem.
Spent 6k on a new roof (which needed doing anyway as it was the original roof by the looks of it with numerous issues)
Still had the problem.
Had 2 "Damp" experts come who couldn't pin point the cause of the leak and advised it could be the flashing. (Which has been replaced twice the 2nd time because the roofers advised the code used by the guttering guys was poor)
Roofers have come back out twice stripped it all back but couldn't see the cause of it. (Bearing in mind they couldn't do this when it was pouring it down)
I've had the chimney swept and tested, and failed due to cracks between each flue.

It's not that I haven't been trying to find the route cause but that I've spent a small fortune already on the advice of professionals in the business to fix the problem.

The pointing from flashing upwards is going to be completely re-done this weekend, and then I'll probably test from the flashing downwards to see if I can get any water coming in from the roof.

Have you tried getting the hose up there, and spraying it on different sections to see where the leak starts from. I think it's about £4 for a cubic metre of water, so not an overly expensive next try. And it might help to pick up a cheap moisture meter off of eBay to see if you can pinpoint the wetest bits and try and work out a map of the damp areas.

Doggit said:

Sorry Martin, but you seem fixated on the thermocrete solution; this would seal the chimney from the inside, but would it deal with any leaks that are coming from the pointing and flashing etc. Find the cause of the leak, and then if you're installing a stove, why not fit a steel liner and an anti draught cowling.

Click to expand...

I'm with you on this one with regard to a steel liner. I would be worried that thermocrete
would be too ridgid and make any future chimney work difficult
litl

did these roofers go on the roof and take photos behind the stack of the back gutter and bad pointing,and photos when they lifted the lead to showthe boards you can see in photo 0658. and as said,what about the flaunching and terminal pots?where are any photos? and did theroofers go into the loft and see what we can plainly se? thats a stack trimmer soaking wet in the loft and the back gutter boadrds are on it. the trimmer is set about 11/2" from the stack.
in your firstpost you said youd been in the loft and nothing to be seen!that wet stained rafters have been like that for probly a couple of years.

litl, the thermo busness is rubbish, hes already said the flue feather is leaking smoke so its unstable.he could end up with a bedroom fulll of wet thermo conc. and two totaly blocked flues.

martin, youve got a simple leak, easy to fix if you now how to go about it.