Rain dripping down my chimney

cape_jasmine

Hello everyone, has anyone had rain coming down the chimney before?

Moved into my first house 3 months ago and during yesterday's downpours I noticed water dripping down my open fireplace. Wasn't much (about a bowlful), but enough to get me worried. There is no fire fitted, so the previous owner just shoved some mineral wooll (insulation stuff) up the chimney and put chinese hat tops (cowls) on the chimney pots outside. I thought these things were meant to keep birds/rain/draught away, so I have now idea what's wrong.
Advice would be much appreciated :j

Many thanks !

savemoney

I think you need a proper cowl fitted and a air vent at the bottom of the chimney to let it dry out otherwise you may get damp

round where I live I see chimney pots have slate put on top to cap it

Only one of 4 chimneys I have has a cowl with a log burner the other 3 have a air vent in

glosman555

It could be the cement mortar holding the chimney inplace is perished allowing the water to get in.

cape_jasmine

Thank you everyone for advice :T , I did a bit of research of my own, plus called some roofing contractors. Thay said the problem might be cowls not sealed so water comes in around them. Or worse, the flaunching might be damaged. Hopefully will have someone to go on the roof this week to have a proper look and see what's wrong. Will keep you posted, keep fingers crossed for me :j

keystone

You say a cowl is already fitted so that deals with that option.

It may be condensation in the chimney that has soaked the mineral wool over time and a bit of driving rain has now also got into it and has mae it drip.

I'd remove the wool tbh and see what happens.

Cheers

savemoney

Oh 3 year old thread bumped up by jiminy2007 most probably :spam:

keystone

savemoney wrote: »

Oh 3 year old thread bumped up by jiminy2007 most probably :spam:

B u g g e r. Fell for it again! Will I never learn?

Cheers