Hi all,
Just moved in and there is a patch of damp about 1m2 at the top of the chimney breast in one of the rooms on the second floor. Fireplaces have all been covered before I moved in. Feels wet to touch so had damp guy round, he said could either put a cowl on the chimney for £120 (none of the chimneys have been capped), or could drill a few holes and fit one of these in: https://www.screwfix.com/p/map-vent-adjustable-vent-white-229-x-152mm/7374d
Either option would probably dry out the damp enough for it to be painted, he said.
So could I just drill a few holes and fit the vent over it? Any potential problems in doing so? Or any benefit to having the cowl put in instead?
As a side note of curiosity, I see a lot of damp problems posted that are related to chimneys and fireplaces being borded up without proper ventilation - why is that? Do we know more about ventilation requirements now than before? Or were a lot of people just cutting corners when all these fireplaces were boarded up?
Just moved in and there is a patch of damp about 1m2 at the top of the chimney breast in one of the rooms on the second floor. Fireplaces have all been covered before I moved in. Feels wet to touch so had damp guy round, he said could either put a cowl on the chimney for £120 (none of the chimneys have been capped), or could drill a few holes and fit one of these in: https://www.screwfix.com/p/map-vent-adjustable-vent-white-229-x-152mm/7374d
Either option would probably dry out the damp enough for it to be painted, he said.
So could I just drill a few holes and fit the vent over it? Any potential problems in doing so? Or any benefit to having the cowl put in instead?
As a side note of curiosity, I see a lot of damp problems posted that are related to chimneys and fireplaces being borded up without proper ventilation - why is that? Do we know more about ventilation requirements now than before? Or were a lot of people just cutting corners when all these fireplaces were boarded up?