Chimney Breast Damp

[LukesLog]

Hello,

In my ongoing quest to rid our 1850s brick cottage of damp, im now looking to tackle the upstairs chimney breast.

A quick rundown of the situation:

- External cement render, all cracks filled in 2 weeks ago.
- Chimney breast has an open downstairs flue with faux log burner(electric).
- Roofing work done recently to fill in some gaps in the flashing etc, roofer is convinced it is water tight.
- Window to one side missing some sealant, corrected today.


Since we moved in 2 months ago the wall in the upstairs bedroom between a window and the chimney breast(including one side of the chimney itself) has been noticeably wet to the touch and has a large damp stain.

Ive been doing iterative repair work, including roofing, sealing external hairline cracks and also today sealing the window itself.

Externally I can see a vented cap on top of the chimney, which in theory means its vented both ends correctly?

Id love people's thoughts on what this could be and further avenues I could pursue.

Best

Luke

 

[LukesLog]

Pictures attached.

 

[Stevers]

That's a lot of damp, so much that I'd want to seriously explore the possibility of a plumbing leak. That boxing could contain all sorts of horrors and the way it runs in front of the chimney breast makes me wonder if pipework has been run up the flue and is now leaking. What that could be on a central heating circuit - heaven only knows.