Leak after chimney stack removed and re-slated

[im333]

Hello all,

Desperate for some impartial advice please.

I've had a chimney reduced as it's no longer in use. The roof is slated and the builder/roofer has re-felted over the adjacent sarking boards and re-slated.

This work was done in December but I am finding the timber under the re-slated section is damp. He has left the sarking boards in place - do they need to be there if the chimney has been reduced to under the roof line? Another roofer seems to think it has not been felted over the sarking boards and that they ought to have been removed; the roofer who did the job argues they should never be removed as the are integral to the structure of the roof. I cannot see logic in this if the chimney is no longer there. He has asked that I get a moisture meter to see if there is a change in water content of the timber when it rains.

I'll post some pictures. The cardboard over the ceiling is to see if any water actually leaks - it hasn't dripped onto the cardboard. You can see in the last picture, a long standing leak that I've had in the plastered ceiling of the bathroom. It hasn't dried out despite dropping the previously leaking chimney stack. I wonder what's causing the dampness?

Best wishes,
im333

 

[vinn]

A photo of the repaired roof area would help.
Best practice would have been to remove the boards.
The boards were used to carry the lead sheet back gutter - I wouldn't call them traditional sarking boards. Not that I know much about sarking boards.
I cant tell from the photos if the plastic underfelt thats been pieced-in is lapping over the boards & the lower layer of underfelt? - it should be.
Do you have a slate roof or a profiled tiled roof?

Probe all the discoloured woodwork including the purlin ends and the old wall plate at the repair area. Look for soft decayed wood.
There definitely appears to be an active leak. Rip off the black felt thats tacked to the undersides: it might be obscuring something.

At a later date you should get the flues swept or the soot will give problems by bleeding through the chimney breasts below.