Damp on outer upstairs walls by a chimney

[sunseeker]

Can anyone help please with a problem that even my roofer is stumped by?
My house is a 1930's detached and I had large damp patches where the wall meets the ceiling (and on the ceiling) on the two upstairs bedroom outer walls.
Both patches are where chimneys are with the chimney breasts on the outside. In the front bedroom I had the chimney lowered to roof level and tiled over and then an air brick near the middle and top of the chimney breast. This did the trick.
However in the back bedroom, I left the problem until it was really bad as it was inside some wardrobes. When I eventually tackled this one, I employed a different roofer to do the same things to the chimney except he felted under the tiles even though the rest of the roof is unfelted. I also had the old wardrobes ripped out and the whole wall re plaster-boarded and the worst bit of the ceiling hacked off and a rectangle of plaster board attached to the ceiling lathes and then re-plastered.
Then the damp re-appeared. When it rained I noticed damp all around the edges of the rectangle of the plaster boarded bit on the ceiling with a noticeably worse bit where the ceiling meets the wall on one side. I called the roofer who put some water seal on the bricks outside. He checked for missing pointing and for any problems with guttering and said they are fine.
This still didn't stop the damp so he put a tile vent either side of where the chimney is. The damp on the side between the ceiling and the wall now looks worse. He has now suggested that I put extra insulation in the loft over this area.
Does this sound reasonable or can anyone suggest what they think might be happening please? [/url]

 

[sunseeker]

Does anyone out there have any ideas please?

 

[datarebal]

any chance of a few pictures?

 

[sunseeker]

Datarebal stated

Any chance of a few pictures

Do you mean of the damp on the bedroom ceiling or of inside the loft?

 

[HaydnExport]

Pics of the damp and the actual roof and exterior walls and inside the loft would be a great help. I take it you have checked if there are any water pipes near it?

 

[datarebal]

as said, pics of all angles inside and out

 

[sunseeker]

I take it you have checked if there are any water pipes near it?

There are no water pipes near it. I will upload photos tomorrow.

 

[sunseeker]

Here are the photos that I said I would provide.

Hope they give some ideas of what the problem might be.

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[HaydnExport]

It 'Looks' like a leak in the roof to me, there's clearly water staining on the woodwork. Next time you get heavy rain and wind go up and have a look for a leak. Looks like someone has been up on the roof bodging by the looks of the last pic too. I'd get a decent roofer in to have a look if i were you.

 

[tufty]

On the pic of the roof outside, whats with the angle of the tile just to the left of the aerial pole,

Im no roofer but the tile in the pic looks suspect to me.

Its the one between the two air bricks, about 4 or 5 rows up.

The others are sat down flat but not that one.

Just a long shot

 

[stuart45]

You could do a water test on the roof with a hose and sprinkler attachment,if you don't want to wait for heavy rain.
A common problem with chimney breasts is hygroscopic salts in the plaster which cause damp patches. This often foils roofers, although it might not be the cause in this case.

 

[HaydnExport]

You could do a water test on the roof with a hose and sprinkler attachment,if you don't want to wait for heavy rain.
A common problem with chimney breasts is hygroscopic salts in the plaster which cause damp patches. This often foils roofers, although it might not be the cause in this case.

LOL , no mate this is defo a leak !! I'll bet you £5 to hope house charity that it's a leak?

Unless you could provide a wind source that could emulate 30+mph hr winds then a hose will be of no use at all.

 

[sunseeker]

It 'Looks' like a leak in the roof to me, there's clearly water staining on the woodwork. Next time you get heavy rain and wind go up and have a look for a leak. Looks like someone has been up on the roof bodging by the looks of the last pic too. I'd get a decent roofer in to have a look if i were you.

The wood that is showing inside the loft is only on the re-tiled chimney area and I think its new wood that the roofers put in. I was wondering if that amount of wood was excessive in comparison to the rest of the roof? Also the felt looks a bit hap-hazard. I couldn't understand why they put that felt in when the rest of the roof is unfelted-couldnt that cause there to be less ventilation?

I know nothing about roofing but this dampness got worse when it rained before they put the tile vents in, but now the dampness is there on the new plaster all the time.

Its worrying as I paid them to re-point all of the ridge tiles too and spent quite a bit of money on the whole job. Having said that the guy running this roofing company seems to be willing to put it right if he knew what is causing the problem.

 

[stuart45]

You could do a water test on the roof with a hose and sprinkler attachment,if you don't want to wait for heavy rain.
A common problem with chimney breasts is hygroscopic salts in the plaster which cause damp patches. This often foils roofers, although it might not be the cause in this case.

LOL , no mate this is defo a leak !! I'll bet you £5 to hope house charity that it's a leak?

Unless you could provide a wind source that could emulate 30+mph hr winds then a hose will be of no use at all.

Believe or not, water testing is a common thing in the States. It doesn't tell you that the roof is defo OK, but it can sometimes show where a leak is coming from.

 

[justlead1]

Hi Why not tack a length of polythene on to rafters in the area discussed, with a fold back at lowest point (above sofit ) this should give you an indication where the problem lies. And a clear way forward. Good Luck