DIY Doctor UK DIY Forums

Hi
we have an 1840's house and there is a problem with damp in the living room chimney breast. It enters about 4 ft above ground level (picture 1 & 3) and spreads along the external wall (picture 2). We have recently had the chimney lead flashing replaced and the chimney pots are capped. There is a chimney liner in the chimney for the wood burning stove that now sits in the fireplace. Several years ago, we had the external wall dry-lined and coated with mastic but this has not really helped. It looks like water is entering somewhere but don't really understand why it emerges from the chimney breast where it does. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated, including suggestions for further investigative work

Thanks in advance!

That does look really bad. Does the damp get darker or bigger when there is bad weather? If not then it could be an interior water pipe leaking. Water can run along floors and cables so it doesn't have to eminate from directly over the fireplace. Are you able to access the water pipes to and from your bathrooms at all to see if you can see any water under floorboards or similar? If not you will probably need to get a professional in to establish the problem fix it and repair.

Hi
thanks for the reply. The damp patches seem to get bigger in wet weather but don't dry out during dry weather (eg over the summer). The affected wall is an external wall so unless there are pipes buried inside the brickwork I don't think it is a plumbing issue. Looks like we will need specialist advice