ADVICE NEEDED: Roof/chimney leak into bedroom

[PCT]

Hi All,

I have had a leak in the back bedroom for some time, but lately with all the heavy wind and rain its gotten quite a lot worse. Its now at the point that if I dont have it fixed soon the room will need more than just a bit of paint after its corrected.

My father and I have been up on the roof twice last summer filling in any gaps and cracks we could see however it has not made any difference. My father feels it may be the chimney but I genuinely have no idea. There is a small attic space above the bedroom which he has crawled through above the leak and he says this is dry.

Before I call out a roofer I thought Id post some pics here first in the hope that someone can offer any opinions:

Inside the bedroom:

Outside view, chimney above the room, and damp patch can be seen on the outside also:

Closer shot of outside damp patch:

Chimney and top of roof:

Close up shot of weatherboards (wonder if the gap is anything to do with it?):

Another close up just underneath last shot:

Is there anything that stands out in the above pics as being an obvious problem? I have very little knowledge of this kind of thing and really need some guidance!

Cheers

 

[catlad]

The rendering on your chimney is badly cracked which will be letting water in.

 

[joe-90]

Are your rafters dry when it rains? Is the insulation above the stain completely dry when it rains? If so it isn't coming down from above.

 

[PCT]

I'm 95% sure the rafters are dry when it rains but I plan to go up there again when it's chucking it down just to be sure.

Would the cracks in the rendering on the chimney be enough to cause the condition of the ceiling in the bedroom?

 

[cotswoldbuilders]

The most obvious is probably the chimney, the render is badly cracked and needs attention, check the lead work around it as well.

 

[smccullagh]

The other thing to consider is that there's damage to the top of your chimney that you can't see from below. The water ingress looks pretty substantial and I'm not sure the cracks alone could be causing that, but I might be wrong.

Agree with previous post around checking how the chimney itself is sealed at the base and whether any damage there could be causing the ingress - again something you're unlikely to be able to assess from below.

 

[PCT]

Rendering the chimney, is that a job that could be done by myself? What would I need and would the chimney require any kind of prep beforehand?

Thanks for the comments so far by the way.

 

[smccullagh]

You'd need to check the brick work under the rendering to make sure it's sound - the cracks could indicate movement underneath.

Also, you'd need to make sure that you're totally safe when you try to tackle this - if it's just the gable end then you might get away with a ladder so long as someone was spotting you and you felt safe doing that.

When you add that and the fact I'm guessing you've never done this before together I'd be tempted to get a few professional quotes. They'd also be able to verify that the cause of the ingress is actually the rendering.