The chimneys are in the centre of the roof. When you say "an air brick into the side" where exactly do you mean? We think they are 2 separate flues but they must both use the same chimney pot which has been sealed off with a vented cap. But just not sure.
Hello Johns!
The chimney breasts are not on outside walls but in the centre of the house - one behind the other. The chimney breast in the living room is fine band the walls aren't damp but there is an open fireplace which we use sometimes. The problem chimney breast is on the other side backing onto it (back to back) and that's the one with the small hole 9x9 and next to the kitchen and close to the shower room. I have taken the photos as requested - I hope they are ok for you to see what you need to see.
That helps to clarify the situation Myra, many thanks for the pics!
Just some interesting points to consider.....
The fire places are back to back.....do things improve when the other fire is lit? The heat soaking through should eventually help to dry things.
I guess the first pic is the stack in the loft? It sure looks fairly damp and this can be confirmed by a cheap damp meter available from Toolstation or whatever. If it is, this must be coming from above.
Looking at the chimney stack, it does look as if the pointing isn't the best up there and of course we can't see the flashing or flaunching. Where the bricks project there could be some slate 'soakers' which prevent damp coming down but of course there could be pointing issues below this. Do you know any good builders near you who would give you honest advice?
Finally.....you have two fireplaces down below and one in the bedroom above - but only two pots are visible on the stack. Is this correct?
John
I guess the first pic is the stack in the loft? It sure looks fairly damp and this can be confirmed by a cheap damp meter available from Toolstation or whatever.
Even a cheap multimeter, set on a Ohms range will give some idea of the damp, if the probes are used at a fixed distance apart. It might avoid the need to go out and buy a meter?
All great advice and will certainly get the multimeter or meter - that would give us some answers. John the downstairs has fireplaces back to back and we haven't lit the living room fire for a few years so it might be a good idea to try that - thanks. Upstairs there are no fireplaces but there used to be when we moved in 34 years ago. They had to go though as the bedrooms are small and we needed the wall space and knew that we wouldn't use them. However, neither of us can remember what the builders did or how they filled them in but they plastered over them and we got on with the decorating.
This is the sort of thing: https://www.toolstation.com/draper-...818?_br_psugg_q=moisture+meter?searchstr=mois
I use mine for log moisture and it seems accurate enough.
So - there was a fireplace upstairs (long gone) but I presume the chimney is still there, just hidden away. Therefore, the void could be a cause of the damp patch there.
What's your next move.....is there anyone you can trust to have a good inspection of the chimney stack etc and give you a professional opinion?
John
anne dont knock any bricks or holes out in the loft chimney breast it could be dangerous to do that.
you dont need any kind of meter. stay away from all of them. you have obvious damp on the loft chimney breast, possibly penetrating from the flue and just running down the outside of the chimney breast, the foam you can see might have been an attempt to stop the leaking from thestack flashings.
The stack pots have a rotor vent and a colt 316 cowl, why, whose idea? did you have aproblem with a downdraft in the open fireplace? the pots for the upstairs fireplace flues havebeen removed. the stack looks shot. pics needed of the stack, the flaunching and theflashings.
The dip between the hip irons has been flashed with sheet lead without any clips showing?
The damp outlines on the living room chimney breast are soot chemicals penetrating from the dirty flue - no matter what the sweepsaid theres no such things as special brushes or camerafor sweeping flues. whatever was used didnt work because the penetration is stillobvious.
The sweep shouldnt be looking for historic use but looking for soot thats remained in the flue.
can you post pics of the other ground floor chimney breast and both bedroomchimney breasts?
Thanks for the meter details John - look affordable as well. I'm not sure who we can get to look at it who's reliable. We have had roofers years ago who supposedly fixed a problem and didn't and they cost a lot of money. I think we need a specialist chimney/roof expert who can look at it for us but we're bound to pick the wrong one. We live in the south east so if anyone can think of someone it would be appreciated.
tell80 ...thank you for your reply too. We had the cowl put on as yes there was a problem with the downdraft and the cap was put on recently because naively we thought the rain may be going straight down and causing the damp. It is well ventilated though. There is only one chimney breast left upstairs but it's just a wall now with the 2 damp patches at the side (please see photo). I have heard of soot chemicals before but not sure if that's the case - it could be, although the sweep was only here a few weeks ago and we have only just moved the furniture that was in front of the damp spots so there's still time for it to dry out I suppose. It's getting quite depressing now!
Thanks for the meter details John - look affordable as well. I'm not sure who we can get to look at it who's reliable. We have had roofers years ago who supposedly fixed a problem and didn't and they cost a lot of money. I think we need a specialist chimney/roof expert who can look at it for us but we're bound to pick the wrong one. We live in the south east so if anyone can think of someone it would be appreciated.
Anne - Do you know any drone hobbyists, who could take some photos of the area? Join a local Facebook group and ask if anyone knows anyone with a drone. You need five photos - one from directly above, then one from each side/corner.
I don't know any Harry but I can try and find one!
Thank you all for your replies -you have given us lots of avenues to go down and opened our eyes up to the possible solutions. I think we'll spend today looking for the right man to come and view. My husband is leaning towards the condensation theory but I am almost certain it's a problem with the chimney stack from what you have all said. Thank you all and have a great day today.
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