Chimney Woe

[nimettay]

Hi, I am having what seems like endless trouble caused by the chimney and I am after some advice!

In September, internal bricks in the chimney breast collapsed and fell down into the fireplace, bringing a barrage of soot with them and ruining most of our living room in the process. We had a builder come out to tell us what the damage was and what we needed to do. He got up onto the roof and said he couldn't see where the problem was, so it must be lower down the breastmeants and that the easiest thing to do (seeing as we didn't use the fire anyway) was to have the chimney breasts removed. Fast forward to the end of October, the breasts were demolished and the remaining chimney stack and brickwork is supported by a gallows bracket in the loft. We had the building inspector out and he has verbally signed it off, however I am STILL waiting for any kind of paperwork, so need to chase this up. Anyway, I digress.

We noticed we were getting a LOT more moisture in the house than normal, I was having to wipe down the windows and the surrounding wall of the window frame every morning, and there was quickly black spots of mould appearing.

On boxing day, we noticed water coming down the wall in my sons bedroom and a patch of black mould in the corner of the room where the wall meets the ceiling. My partner had a look into the loft and found that everything seemed to be wet (the insulation etc.) - we spoke to the builder who did the work who deferred any responsibility essentially saying it had nothing to do with him. The general consensus seemed to be that it was bad condensation in the loft caused by lack of ventilation, and the house being so hot while the loft remained cold.

We bought a dehumidifier cleaned and redecorated sons room and all seemed alright until Friday. We were in bed (in the middle of another storm) and heard that unmistakable sound of falling bricks again. My partner once again climbed into the loft, where he found that bricks had fallen, presumably from the stack itself, down the remaining breast in the loft - he also said there was water literally just p***ing into the loft. The water has started to come through the ceiling into our room now.

I am sorry for the extremely long post (I think I mainly need to vent ) does it seem like this is just going to be a case of getting the chimney stack repointed? Will a builder need to erect scaffolding for this? Sorry for being ignorant but I have no idea.

Also, is it just me, or when I got the first builder out, surely he should have told me that the chimney stack was in need of repair, and not just suggesting getting the breasts removed?? It is really infuriating to think that this should have all been sorted originally and yet almost 5 months on we are still getting problems!

Also, is it likely that the chimney stack could come through the roof? It is deeply worrying that we might be putting our son in danger through this

 

[Alastairreid]

My 1st thought is why not remove the rest of the stack?

Is the remainder of the stack capped off.


And the condensation in the attic is caused by lack of thru ventilation! your roof space is supposed to be cold and airy.

 

[Flyboytim]

The chimney was a source of ventilation before it was removed, but everywhere seems to have a damp problem this winter, with the relentless Atlantic depressions.

It seems that the builder has not stabilized the chimney structure that has been left, nor capped off the flue(s) that are still left, adequately. Having not diagnosed the original brickfall, it seems, he has ignored the probable root cause.

It can be a difficult job to waterproof the redundant stack, and it would be preferable to remove it entirely, unless the stack is on a party wall with a neighbour who still may require the use of their flues.

In this case, it could be the neighbour's adjoining flues that are allowing the water ingress, often coming through a decayed single skin of bricks. It needs to be adequately identified where the water is originating from before putting it right. Also neighbours consent.

Ventilation during drier spells of weather, increased air movement in rooms with damp problems, reducing the overall temperature and daily temperature variations so that condensation is minimised. If you put desk fans in affected rooms these can be effective in allowing walls to reach ambient temperature, when condensation will cease, and the damp will dry out. If the house is heated then allowed to cool, or if damp outside air is allowed to drop the internal temperature too much, then the condensation will get worse.

Has the ceiling that was made good after the chimney breast was removed in the upstairs room been effectively vapour barriered off from the loft space and insulation properly reinstated?

If your loft was dry before, is it solely because the remaining stack is venting that area, that it is getting condensation, or just due to the introduced leaks?

 

[nimettay]

Hi thanks for the replies.

The remainder of the stack must stay in place as it's on a party wall unfortunately.

Apparently when the work was done, the builder should have installed air bricks which should have countered the loss of ventilation /through draft (he didn't).

It has been capped, no idea how effectively.

The ceiling was basically just replastered in the place where the breast used to be, and my partner discovered when he was in the loft that the insulation that had been moved when the bracket was put in place hadn't actually been replaced.

Thanks for the info on managing the damp, that's really useful.

Tomorrow morning starts the task of finding a new builder to come out and effectively diagnose the problem, it's going to be expensive isn't it?