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problem with damp patch on bedroom wall-just below ceiling level and on inside of chimney flue.The chimney was obvious culprit but had flashing checked & mortar around pot renewed.Also had gas fire type cowl installed.Top courses of chimney,which protrudes full height of house i.e. exterior, suffers from patches of salts.Over the past snowy weeks the exterior brickwork appears wet from the very top down to 4/5 courses below gutter level.Construction is traditional with 2 layers of protruding quarry tiles.I have also checked in the roof to see if water was coming down in side of felt but interior brickwork at ceiling level appears dry.House was constructed 1977.
Any ideas greatly appreciated

jonquil,
You will need to investigate and see if a horizontal dpc has been installed in the chimney at roof flashing level. Since water is getting past the roof level I would suspect this has been missed.
The most economic solution will be to spray the exposed parts of the chimney with a silicone based water repellant.
end

Stoneyboy,
Manythanks for your help.Suspect you are correct in so much as I cannot see any horizontal dpc and will use the water repellent solution to see if this will cure the damp patch problem.

If your first builder got it wrong then perhaps he should come back (not at your cost) as he obviously didn't correct the problem. I think a second opinion first would be useful to you.

Cheers