'Rising damp' in chimney breast

Hintza

As has been suggested your first thing and cheapest is check the ground level. Dig down and figure where it should be. If necessary create a kerbed ditch which you can fill with gravel. All DIY, you will be surprised how much ground level can increase over the years.

prosaver

maybe if the house was design 200years ago.. the need for damp proof fire place would be pointless ..I would get the fire put back in.. and its a good selling point

SG27

Check the external pointing on the chimney breast. Flashing on the roof too. Don't waste money on damp injecting!

whatatotaljoke

Get a drill and drill a hole into where ever is damp. Don't spend a penny acting only on assumption.
I would guarantee whatever comes out the hole will be dry. As some posts suggest above the burning of fossil fuels in the past will have contaminated the chimney breast with hygroscopic salts thus creating discoloured wet patches.

The chimney breast would benefit from being re plastered in breathable lime. AND injected DPC's sold by damp salesman do absolutely nothing which is proven. In the event of this being done if it ever did work it would also need to be below floor level to be effective. Yet EVERY damp contractor installs them above floor height. (I imagine your home has solid floors)

George_Michael

SG27 wrote: »

Check the external pointing on the chimney breast. Flashing on the roof too. Don't waste money on damp injecting!

I agree with this as a first step as well as checking any caps you have on the top.
It could well be water coming in through the chimney opening at the top and collecting at the bottom where it is soaking into the walls.

englishmade

Hi,
Normally damp found in a old chimney is " falling damp (rain) You need to let your chimney breath again , get good air flow and have it cleaned of soot as this will hold dampness. Remove damp plaster and let the brick/ stone dry out and you should have solved the problem.
Good luck
Roger

Ader1

Is the ground outside higher than inside?

Are the cracks in the external render?

I'm not sure if lime plaster should be wallpapered. Is it lime plaster?

Are gutters and down-pipes in working order?

Is there adequate ventilation in the house?

I've heard that 'rising damp' is thought by many experts to not even exist but there's an industry created to 'tackle' the 'problem'. But it will cost you quite a lot.

Ader1

I had a problem with my chimney but it was showing up in a wet patch in next door's upstair. I needed a new chimney and led flashing etc. The house is around 150 years old at most.

Singerman1

I had a problem with a damp chimney breast in my 50 year old bungalow, as have several neighbours. It turns out that burning solid fuel (phurnacite) for the back boiler had generated acid fumes in the chimney, which had eaten away the mortar between the bricks. When I checked the chimney from the roof, the bricks were virtually bedded on sand. Cutting out alternate layers of pointing, and replacing these with new sand and cement to which I ardded waterproofer, was a laborious business but cured the problem. (Alternate layers of pointing in turn, so the whole chimney did not collapse!)
My brother had a very old cottage, with an open chimney breast. The draught up the chimney (with ingle nook fireplace) was prodigious, and he first installed a restrictor plate, then a wood burning stove which both heated the room and controlled the draught up the chimney/ventilation.
Hope these suggestions may help you.

polly_le

You definitely should open up chimney ant think about using electroosmosis device. For me it was really helpful. I don't now where are you from, here you got company from thurles dampprevention.ie
if they aren't from your area maybe you can find someone else who offers electroosmosis