Damp patches

[OWNEROFAMONEYPIT]

I have been in my new money pit for 6 weeks. We have a damp patch on a wall from the ceiling line down about a foot. The patch gets damp when it rains and then dries out it never gets any bigger. The wall is a chimney breast and the room is directly under a dormer loft conversion. I have taken the advice of 3 roofers. Roofer 1 states a couple of broken tiles to the right of the chimney - £85, roofer 2 states the chimney stack needs taking down £500 and roofer 3 states the flashing is cracked under the dormer window and water is entering and running down there - £300. I have since found out that a friend is married to a roofer and he has been out and states that the patch is old and is attracting moisture from outside and inside (from condesation caused by cooking in the through kitchen) He states that the patch is tacky and feels like it has been previously treated, and that the chimney looks as though it has been re pointed recently (though not very well). He has just advised to remove offending damp patch and plaster and re skim! Does this sound feasable?

 

[noseall]

if the offending masonry is saturated with hygroscopic salts then this does sound feasible.

you would need to treat the area with an sbr slurry first.

 

[OWNEROFAMONEYPIT]

if the offending masonry is saturated with hygroscopic salts then this does sound feasible.

you would need to treat the area with an sbr slurry first.

Thanks for that. Whats an sbr slurry? Do i treat the area with this after removing the offending plaster and before apllying the new skim?

 

[^woody^]

If this patch gets wet whenever it rains, then its clearly due to a leak

If you replaster, then its just going to get wet the next time it rains

You need to sort out the leak before replastering