Stains on wall from old chimney

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newbuild05

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Hi all
We have a terraced house with a disused chimney at the back. I have noticed recently that the internal part of the wall where the chimney is has becomed stained, the stains are a yellow marking and some of the wall is pealing where they are. i asked someone about this and they told ne it was soot coming through the wall from the chimney. Does anyone know what it might be or how i could resolve the issue ??

Thanks in advance
 
Is it definitely soot coming through? Maybe that's possible but it sounds odd to me. Any chance it's actually something like damp/moisture coming through? Could the chimney be blocked and not being ventilated? Who advised you? Was it somebody with expertise in this area (in which case presumably they could have advised on possible solutions?)?
 
An engineer told me that the most likely cause of this is simply a slow build-up of rainwater which has come down the chimney. Happens all the time really, but when fires are regularly lit any excess moisture is dried out. We get some staining on our chimney during the summer which clears up during the winter months.
 
Caveat said:
An engineer told me that the most likely cause of this is simply a slow build-up of rainwater which has come down the chimney. Happens all the time really, but when fires are regularly lit any excess moisture is dried out. We get some staining on our chimney during the summer which clears up during the winter months.
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Yes, dampness now getting down the chimney pot, and allowing the tar deposits/soot in the chimney migrate into the chimney breast - because the chimney is not in use, the smoke does not dry out the chimney which would prevent too much dampness coming down and soaking into the lining.

Solution: If you do not use the chimney, cap the chimney.
Else put a "chinaman's hat" up there.

Otherwise start using the fire more often.
 
ok thanks lads the chimney is on the outside of the house out the back and as i say it is not used there is no opening in the kitchen for it, it was blocked up before we bought the house. i will get a cap for it and close it off.
 
If you tack polythene onto the wall, batten it out with treated 2"x1", plasterboard and skim it ...... you'll be fine. Realistically you should put a vented cap on the chimney pot and repair the flaunching which is, more than likely, cracked.
 
Newbuild

Have you thought about contacting a specialist chimney lining company or similar. These guys usually do free surveys of your chimneys - tell you what is wrong and then give you a price to fix it.

The will also work with your house insurance company if you wish and you can get work covered by insurance.

Here is a paragraph from a report I did on an old house recently which had smoke damage from a neighbours chimney.

"This needs to be corrected by getting the neighbour to reline his chimney flue. The cost of this should be in the region of €3 – 5,000 but house insurance covers it. Multiflue 091 789 836 a Galway company cover all of Ireland and will do a free survey and meet both you and your neighbour. They will work directly with the insurance company so that your neighbour should not have to pay out any money. There may be other companies that offer a similar service."

PS I have no connection to Multiflue
 
eamonn123456 said:
Are you sure that's a good idea - won't that just seal in the moisture?
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Aah - just to make sure everyone, including the OP knows - I probably should add make sure whoever does the capping knows what they are doing. It should have some holes in it. (The usual way is to punch nails up from the underside, so that holes are created which throw water off). You also need to keep the fireplace open so that the chimney is ventilated between the fireplace and the chimney pot.

If done like this, it won't seal in much additional moisture (the moisture in the chimney at the time wasn't going to go anywhere except into the chimney breast anyway).
 
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