Chimney breast problems

LillyVanilli

Im having trouble with my chimney breast, but dont know how serious it is. I have a stove in my fireplace. My chimney outside has small visible cracks in the paint. But now inside there is a visible crack a couple of inches above the fire place which had water seeping out of it a couple of months ago. This lasted for an hour but hasnt happened since, even in the heavy rain. Recently I hung a painting on the chimney breast, looked at it last night and the back of the painting had dry mould on it, I removed it from the wall and the plaster on the wall is all cracked and flaky. Who should I contact to take a look at this? Ive no idea if my whole chimney is going to fall down or if the outside part of my chimney needs to be sealed as its letting in water.

anon1

The water could be caused by condensation in the Chimney. If you are burning timber that is not dried to a very low moisture content when the hot smoke from the stove hits the colder chimney liner it can condense and water flows down etc. You need to get you chimney assessed by a company such as multiflue or futureflue to see what is required, maybe a double walled chimney liner is required. If you have a 90 degree bend on the stove pipe or the pipe in the room is very long before it hits the chimney that could be addeing to the problem.

LillyVanilli

Ok thanks for info. It has been the case in the past that some of the wood may not have been completely dry. Any recommendations for companies in the South East?