damp from chimney breast?

[petefromearth]

hi all, this is my first post....

me and my girlfriend have just bought a victorian terrace, and our surveyor pointed out some damp in the party wall, which we got quotes for and consequently a price reduction...

we're now trying to get it sorted before going ahead with decorating. in a couple of spots the wall is noticeably wet. i had a look in our neighbours house, and they also have a small spot, but not quite in the same place. our patches actually are more or less in line with their chimney breast

is it possible that our damp could be caused by water getting down their chimney? if so, are our neighbours responsible for repairs? not that we want to upset them after only being there a week!

also, are guarantees from DPC worth the paper they're written on?

any advice appreciated
cheers
Pete

[woodsmith]

It could be water travelling down the chimney. Have a look outside at the pots and determine if water can get in or not , i.e ... does it have open pots or not or has it got badly cracked or missing flaunching ( binoculars will help ). Also does your neighbour have a fire still in use or if not do they have an air vent on the chimney at all ? Just curious too, has your chimney been removed as I would have thought you would have had a back to back chimney with your neighbour in a Terraced house ?

[petefromearth]

hi woodsmith

cheers for the reply. the neighbours do have the fireplace blocked off in the lounge, i'm not sure if there is a vent or not.

i'll have a closer look at the chimney, it sounds like it might be the cause of our wet walls. as it happens we've got a builder coming round later so i'll show it to him

we don't have a back to back chimney breast. on our road the houses are not 'mirror images' of each other. their lounge and our hallway share the wall (and it's our hallway that has the damp problem) and so on

Pete[/quote]