Annoying leak running down chimney stack in loft

Hi all,

Last year during the storms I noticed that there was water dripping down from the top of the chimney stack onto the loft floor, appearing to originate from where the roof joins the chimney.

Since then, I have had a roofer out 3 times to look at it. The first time they repointed some of the mortar and checked/cleaned the lead. The second time they sealed some more of the lead where it had come away. The most recent visit involved redoing the mortar on the nearest ridge tiles, replacing a couple of broken tiles, and adding some felt underneath.

During some rather stormy winds yesterday I noticed it is annoyingly still doing it.

It only seems to be a problem on the left hand side of the chimney (as you look at the front of the house), and seems prominent when the wind drives the rain into it from the front (south-south east).

I've attached a couple of photos showing the issue inside, as well as some photos of the offending area of the chimney courtesy of my DSLR and telephoto lens. 0895 and 0904 are the front of the house.

The only thing I can think of is the lead seam on the front left corner looks a bit suss.

Any ideas?

Thank you

point the rest of the chimney

datarebal said:

point the rest of the chimney

Click to expand...

You reckon it's coming in that way, and not at the bottom of the chimney then?

4th image you uploaded is this the problem area?
Chimneys are like sponges and prone to problems, repointing, weather seal, new flashings flaunchings etc etc may get you out of jail but it's how far you're willing to go

It appears you are missing a tile against the chimney and the lead doesn't cover the highest profile of the tile so I'd say that could be the culprit but who knows

Also whats on the top?
If you have an openeing water gets in there too.

Repoint & recap it all

As above observations.
Best practice would have been to grind out the stack beds and perps to 20mm approx and repoint.
And lift the lead and perhaps replace it as its a bit worn and skimpy.
Lead saddles should be exposed for say 75mm or 100mm on the ridge tiles.
The flaunching needs attention - there's a faint line of tracking down water in pic 5.

Inside the loft get up tight to examine the stack trimming rafters, there might be some kind of wood rot showing?

I had a similar issue recently and the roofer found the chimney tray was full of dirt and leaves. He gave it a clean and a lick of what looked like lead colored thick paint and all is good.

There is hardly any waterline on the flashings. are there any soakers ??
If it was mine I would put a step and cover into the next course up and get the lead burning gear out.

BTW Fookin sh! te leadwork.

Point all of stack as already advised.

I cured my wet chimney by recasting the capping after breaking away the old weather damaged, cracked one. Given how damp the base of some of your bricks are, I think the chimney is damp all the way up to the top. I also agree it would be beneficial to repoint to the top.