Expert: James Ball - 12/19/2008

Question
we had a small damp patch on our bedroom wall and a suveyer looked from the ground and said the lead flashing was gone so remove the stack we have an external breast on the house since the removal the damp has got worse so the assosiation advised we have vented tiles put in the damp has continued since then we have had 4 builders out as the roof was not finished properley ie no vents put in and felt all the way over the top of the flus with no way to vent and the flus are full of rubble will this create the damp. the last builder was trying to rod the rubble with drain rods and lumps of 2x4 wood if this gave way would it then come into the house through the plaster where the fire place was. help this has gone on now for 10 months and we now have scaffolding up the house until job complete

Answer
Hello Graham, I am sorry but I do not under stand what you are asking me or what a "damp, breast, lead flashing, stack"...etc is? so if I under stand you correctly you have a chimney that leaks water and it is coming from the flashing area did you have a roofer take a look? I would have a local Certified Chimney Sweep (www.csia.org, there you can look up by zip code to find one near you) take a first hand look at what you have.
James