Leaking chimney advice required

[rhythmstick33]

Hiya,

I have a problem with damp/water ingress in my attic room:

You can see where I filled the cracks in the plaster with white filler.

The damp patches seem to follow the course of the chimney breast down to the floor below.

This is the chimney from the side:

There are a few cracks in the rendering, so I'm thinking that's where the water may be coming in. So I was thinking to knock off any loose rendering and patch it up with some mortar, then replacing the antenna mount with a chimney lashing kit (so there are no bolts / bolt holes).

However, this is what the chimney looks like from above:

It's a shared chimney (and it's a back-to-back terrace house, so the chimney could be shared with 1, 2 or 3 neighbours).

The silver flue you can see nearest the centre of the photo is mine, but I'm sure about that grid/hole next to it... If I repair the sides of the chimney, isn't loads of water going to still come through there?!

Not sure where to start. I have had a couple of roofers out but they just wanted to sell me a new roof (which I can't afford anyway), so am having to tackle it myself.

Any help or suggestions would be much appreciated.

Cheers,
Jim

 

[catlad]

I don't see any signs of a chimney internally?

 

[rhythmstick33]

The chimney is behind the internal wall you can see in the first photo.

 

[rhythmstick33]

Here's a better photo. I've marked on it the route of the chimney according to the damp parts of the plaster.

 

[catlad]

No chimney breast ? is that a purlin I see in the top corner?

 

[rhythmstick33]

Yeah, no chimney breast in the attic room.

Not exactly sure what a purlin is but there's a couple of beams as you can see in this photo.

 

[rhythmstick33]

Can anyone help?

 

[Koolpc]

If it were me, I would hack off all of the render on the chimney, redo it properly. Including the top. Take it all off and rebed everything and check to see what that hole is there for. You can't leave it like that. Water will be pouring in there.

You may have to fit another cover/pot over that hole....

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

If it were me, I would hack off all of the render on the chimney, redo it properly. Including the top.

Spot on, it's just a haphazard mess at the moment, no surprise that it leaks, the only surprise is that it isn't causing more problems. That chimney pot seems to just rest on bricks, with no proper flaunching. You need to get together with your neighbours, who share the stack, and agree a shared plan to do it, or have it done properly.