Serious Damp!!

[Wilbermac]

Hello, I am at my wits end at the moment with major damp problems, and nobody can pinpoint what's wrong. Had loads of work done on the roof but the issue is still not fixed..I'd be really grateful if anyone can kindly take a look at the attached photos and get in touch if you've had a similar issue and if you were able to get it fixed. Much appreciated 🙏 ☺️

Have you tried painting over the damp patches with sealant paint before re-emulsioning? the water marks come straight back through emulsion if you don't seal them first. That may be what is happening here?

Hi AgathaX, thanks for the reply. Yes, I've used specific damp paint, repainted, replastered. The damp reading at the fireplace is 99.9%, so the highest it can be and I can hear slow drips where the chimney breast is when it's quiet so there is definitely water finding it's way in but no-one knows where. Apparently the attic is bone dry 🤷‍♀️

Do you know whether the chimney opening in the roof has a cap on top of it?

We used to get water marks on the old chimney breast in our bedroom and figured out they appeared after heavy rain and it was because rain was getting in through the top of the chimney and I guess not drying as it was inside the chimney.

When I had a similar issue:

Behind that radiator should be an air vent for the chimney to breathe.
Flaunching might be needed on the top of the chimney stack.
& or pointing anywhere outside & above.
Also leading around chimney etc.

Further to that, if you can actually hear dripping. Have you pulled all loft insulation back to see? If you cannot see anything whatsoever from above, I'd be tempted to open up the face of the chimney near the wettest part & look.

I had two chimney stacks. One has been blocked off and one one has had a cowling (I think that's what it is) on top of the stack. This was done more recently in an attempt to solve the problem. Pointing is apparently okay but some foliage growing in the chimney suggesting it's retaining moisture. I think the comment on letting the chimney breast breathe is a fair point and something I'll look into a bit more. Thank you both

You definitely need to ensure a blocked off chimney is vented. Can you get some pics of the chimmey from the outside? Might be helpful.

What is the lead flashing like where chimney goes through roof.as poor lead flashing was our issue.

Also what the construction of your walls, internal and external. Brick, stone, plasterboard, lath and plaster, plaster direct on brick?

Have you had a surveyor look at it?

Your chimney being vented is a big one. I have a chimney that gets rain down it sometimes if the wind is blowing in a certain direction, despite the cowl, but because it is vented and has good air flow we don't get damp issues

I paid £250 for a report from a fully qualified chartered surveyor who never went into the attic or on the roof...or just said it was condensation

Apparently the lead flashing is all fine, but I've had that many people out it's so difficult to trust them. Very little want to actually investigate the problem thoroughly.

They're solid walls so believe it's plaster on brick. The plaster is still in good nick. On the grey wall with water marks on the roof the paint is crumbling off but plaster still in tact

Will try and find a pic of the chimney after recent work

I really still like the idea of the ventilation, that makes sense to me

Thanks everyone

Hello, we had similar and we think it was a mixture of..cement round chimney letting rain in. No vents fr it to dry out. And cement based plaster ( not breathable) that stopped the wet drying out. We also scraped some of the paint and carfiller or whatever the previous people had used on the stone round the windows. It meant the stone couldn’t dry out and all the moisture trapped in it was trying to escape so we had bubbling paint, damp etc. looked awful once that was taken off back to stobne( or brick) it could breathe and dried out.
DEFINITELY read www.heritage-house.org/stuff-about-old-buildings/brick-and-stone/removing-paint-from-brick-and-stone-walls.html
he’s an amazing chap and knows his stuff and isn’t trying to sell crap.

www.heritage-house.org/damp-and-condensation/types-of-damp-what-have-i-got/salt-damage-in-old-buildings.html This is also worth a read. Although the fact you are hearing drips suggests water is actually getting in somewhere.

Scroll down to the wettest wall in the house part.

Yes he’s brilliant, was so pleased to find him after so many shysters.

You’ve got water coming in somewhere with staining that bad, it’s not condensation.

you only need a small area of pointing on the brickwork or around the flashing missing and water will find it’s way in. It’s amazing how much water can run down the sides of a chimney when it’s raining hard, it’s like someone’s got a hosepipe on it.
Ive seen hairline cracks in lead ( due to expansion and contraction ). Let an amazing amount of water through.

You need someone to go up on the roof and take a good close look at it to find out exactly what he problem is.

chimneys take the full force of the elements and need to be well maintained.
as said above it’s also I good practice to have air flow down unused chimneys to prevent condensation.

Some pictures of the chimney outside might help.

Morning I've tried to take one but unfortunately can only capture the side that's adjoined to my next door neighbour. So not the side with foliage. I've asked someone else for a better photo, thanks

We have the same problem on the same wall of the house. We have had an envirovent fitted a few years ago and also use a dehumidifier in the worst affected room.

It didn't solve the problem but it made it more manageable.

Agree with @Whoops1 . We had damp that looked like yours in patches all over our walls half way and further up. Couldnt figure it out for months. Got lots of damp people in. Turned out to be a large leak of very old pipes embedded in concrete floors in that room . It had worked its way up the walls. We wouldnt have logically come to that conclusion ourselves due to how high the damp was. Get an old house specialist surveyor. Was well worth the initial layout as our insurance company then paid for sorting out the leak and also the cost of digging up the floor and hacking old plaster off the walls and replacing both with breathable materials with support from the specialist surveyor's report. That was several years ago and not a spot of damp since and our house was built in 1746!

Gosh, that sounds like a nightmare but at least you got to the bottom of it and could claim via your insurers. Thanks for the tip re the old house specialist surveyor. Will look into👍

Hopefully this is better than the earlier pic

Just to say, commiserations! We're currently going through the same with a 1900 end terrace house we've bought up north that has damp. Despite having an independent damp survey with recommended remedial works and this includes hacking off plaster in the lounge, dining room and kitchen, he's also mentioned condensation and lack of ventilation as major reasons for the damp. There are only 2 airbricks at the front of the property, but the ground level outside is higher so the airbricks are covered up; the dining room chimney is capped so no ventilation. No extractor fans in the whole house.

So, having had one damp proof quote first (and note, we are NOT having any DPC fitted..not going down that route), who said he would carry out works similar to our damp surveyor however using products that are contrary to what our surveyor suggested (i.e. non breathable renders) so that's a big concern. We're having another around today so we'll compare what he says/quotes. I've also forwarded the first quote to our surveyor who will be chatting with me later today to give his thoughts on that. What a nightmare!

Hubby and I have have read much of the info on Heritage House's webpage and wonder whether we just need to increase the ventilation etc., and I've spoken with Michelle at Heritage House today to get her view on our surveyors report and recommended works. She also agrees that we might be able to manage the damp by simply increasing the ventilation, opening up the chimney, and buying dehumifiers on Vapourflow's page. Now waiting for her comments on the report as to how we proceed with our damp issues and not rushing to get any damp proofers to start hacking at our walls! (We've also got a concrete floor in the dining room so surveyor has mentioned checking there's no leaking pipes..)

Will be so relieved to get this problem sorted out. Good luck with everyone who's got damp.

The lead work looks a bit shoddy from the picture but it’s hard to tell where water could be getting in. If you say you can hear dripping sometimes then it’s definitely a leak and it will be running down the inside of the chimney and the cause of all the dampness. Once it’s wet in there and there is little/no, airflow/ ventilation then it’s never going to dry out and just keep getting worse.

If it’s not going to bother you how the house looks from the outside, then I’d say the best way to cure it once and for all is to take the stack down under the roof level. It’s a straight forward job and will stop any future leaks around it, you just leave it open inside the loft and it will also ventilate the disused chimneys,

if you have a loft conversion then it might not be a good idea .🙂