As per the title the whole fireplace area is / was damp.
The excessive soil level on the outside wall was reduced lae summer and outside, the wall is looking much happier.
However, inside, as can be seen from the first picture, OK, despite my best efforts its the 3rd pic) much rendering has been done inside, holding in the damp.
I have now removed most of this.
What im left with is something of a mess. Of most concern is the area of damaged brickwork in the centre. This whole stack, which is built using brick on edge is clearly a later addition, and done in cement. Its been built straight onto what i guess was the heath of the original fire place. This is bricks laid on the earth. There is NO foundation of any sort. Its also moved a bit as you can see. There a fair bit of rubble behind it, though before i capped the chimney, you could see some of the hearth from outside.
Addtionally is the cubby hole on the left. i "think" there is a void under it, and no doubt very damp. The vertical wall built off this seems to be older as its done in lime mortar.
So the question is what to do to ensure it dries out and stays that way and what to do to make it look "nice"?
Ideally id remove the added breast, but am concerned what may happen if i do further up? So current thinking is support it roughly where the black paint stops, and rebuild below that on to a proper foundation?
All thoughts and suggestions gratefully recieved.
The excessive soil level on the outside wall was reduced lae summer and outside, the wall is looking much happier.
However, inside, as can be seen from the first picture, OK, despite my best efforts its the 3rd pic) much rendering has been done inside, holding in the damp.
I have now removed most of this.
What im left with is something of a mess. Of most concern is the area of damaged brickwork in the centre. This whole stack, which is built using brick on edge is clearly a later addition, and done in cement. Its been built straight onto what i guess was the heath of the original fire place. This is bricks laid on the earth. There is NO foundation of any sort. Its also moved a bit as you can see. There a fair bit of rubble behind it, though before i capped the chimney, you could see some of the hearth from outside.
Addtionally is the cubby hole on the left. i "think" there is a void under it, and no doubt very damp. The vertical wall built off this seems to be older as its done in lime mortar.
So the question is what to do to ensure it dries out and stays that way and what to do to make it look "nice"?
Ideally id remove the added breast, but am concerned what may happen if i do further up? So current thinking is support it roughly where the black paint stops, and rebuild below that on to a proper foundation?
All thoughts and suggestions gratefully recieved.