Chimney issue

[Kaylady]

Hi everyone,

we purchased our house it it noted there was penetrating damp in the chimney so we appointed a roofer who said that there was a water ingress in the roof that would need locating and repairing.

We had the work done in the summer last year, settled the bill and then water began pooling down the chimney when it rained heavily.

He said the chimneys needed cowls which we paid for and this didn’t sort the issue. He’s been back a few times to further cement the areas around the chimney pots and the issue still persists.

The moisture has now seeped through the chimney and has damaged our new plaster and coving as well as paint work as the paint is peeling, wet patches can be seen on wall and mould is growing.

He's been useless at returning calls, showing up when he said he would etc so I had another roofer come round to see what the issue could be. On the phone the new roofer said the bricks would likely to porous as happens with tall exposed chimneys so we’d be better off removing them. He sent two of his team round that did a moisture reading and they said both our chimneys are saturated and quoted to remove them which was the same price I paid our current roofer.

I sent the mould pictures to our old roofer who he then said the bricks are likely porous and he’ll be in touch to discuss further (no response).

Does anyone know where I stand with the first guy? He’s meant to have 20+ years experience and he it was a roof issue and he replaced a few tiles on the roof, then said on 5 occasions had said it’s a chimney pot issue rather roof and now saying it’s likely the bricks which I’m assuming he’d quote to then remove chimneys. I’ve paid £500 for cowls I don’t need and on quote/invoice it said ‘locate water ingress’ which he’s failed to do.

I'm already £2100 down and in a worse position than before I had the water penetration issue addressed.

Can I ask him to remove chimneys or claw money back through small claims. He has done some work but didn’t fix the issue so I don’t know where I’d stand.

Any help from the community would be appreciate. Thank you!

I don't think it's worth pursuing a claim against the first roofer. The problem is that only a completely new roof is covered by a guarantee. With issues such as this, it won't always be clear what is causing the problem, so the roofer will start with what is considered to be the most likely cause, and if that doesn't work, move on to the next. A decent roofer will try the cheaper / obvious things first, and that may be what has happened here. It's unfortunate that you have had to pay for repairs that have not fixed the problem, but it's an incredibly common experience when you own a house, especially an older property. If you wanted to feel more confident as to what the problem is, you could get a building surveyor to look at it to diagnose the problem, but that would cost more money.

ahh, this sounds like a headache! it's up to you if you want to sue, but defo find someone else. why do you keep going back to the same one? personally, I would get a specialist to find the source of the problem, then pay for the work to do it.. otherwise you're just throwing money at anything, and it could be anything.

Can't see you'll get anywhere chasing the first bloke, but that's guessing. If he's done the work he billed you for then what can you claim?
Did you ask for pictures, before so you can assess the problem and after so you can judge the work?
In the pre mobile phone days it was pretty difficult to know what a 'roofer' was doing tbh! I've been there I know it's easy to be 'conned' over work.
What kind of cowls, £500 seems a bit steep, we've just had a new metal one fitted for £160 - it took 10 minutes! But I trust the guy and his work and tbh round here no-one gets out of bed for less than that. :D

If it's a problem with the chimney itself you could ask a builder, but really you need to find someone who you trust, someone that you know or is recommended to you.

Cement around the chimney is a poor fix - it should be lead.

Taking chimneys out is a huge job, will need a party wall agreement if you are attached and building regulations.

Get a proper surveyor around, not a builder who wants to sell you the work.

Thanks everyone for the feedback. The original roofer’s invoice and quote states ‘locate and fix water ingress’ and apparently his work is guaranteed for 20 years so my issue was more around, should he remove my chimney based on the money I’ve already paid that hasn’t fixed the issue based on his guarantee, or attempt to claw back money for someone else to fix the issue. I’m 2k down for nothing basically. I was a too willing I think to pay before the work was resolved! Big mistake!