Nope. That’s a different wall.

Just spoken to them again, “what if it pours down all weekend?” They’re sending someone ‘within the hour’ apparently.

Aerial bloke’s been and gone, reckons it’s nothing to do with them.

I’ve removed the fireplace and had a better look with a proper torch today, and I’m not wholly convinced that he’s wrong either. Back boiler / pipework is looking favourite given the location of the water, maybe a weeping joint.

Spoke to the insurance who’ve said I do have trace and access (thank you to whoever suggested that), they’ve suggested I get a plumber and are sending a surveyor. So it’s now all going to have to wait till Monday.

Thanks to everyone for suggestions and help so far.

I had this with insurance when a toilet cistern spontaneously cracked – they’ll pay for the water damage but not the repair 🙁

Aerial bloke’s been and gone, reckons it’s nothing to do with them.

Hardly going to admit it though. Is the flashing is flat again now?

If the only bit of flashing the aerial-man has pulled back is the bit to hold the cable then they are innocent and that is not the cause of your damp-patch.

I think you can eliminate your roof from the equation aswell.

I’d say it’s your bathroom.

I’d get your old Glowworm boiler fire checked out, could be one of the pipes where it connects onto the heat exchanger in the chimmney breast or the heat exchanger itself! fingers crossed for you (while sucking air through teeth.)

It’s been pretty dry since Monday, so unless aerial man was before then, cross him off the list.

The sheer quantity of liquid you’ve got screams plumbing leak to me. Take the advice about the header tank line above.

they’ll pay for the water damage but not the repair

Yep.

Is the flashing is flat again now?

Is it buggery. I seem to have found an aerial fitting company that’s roof-phobic.

I’d get your old Glowworm boiler fire checked out

Well spotted sir, I’m impressed. Glowworm Majorca 346N, almost as old as I am. I’ve had gas fitters out to service it who’ve gone “what the hell is that?”

If the only bit of flashing the aerial-man has pulled back is the bit to hold the cable then they are innocent and that is not the cause of your damp-patch.

I think you can eliminate your roof from the equation aswell.

I’d say it’s your bathroom.

I’m inclined to agree, apart from the last sentence. Willing to be proved wrong, but I’m fairly confident it’s not coming from upstairs.

It’s been pretty dry since Monday, so unless aerial man was before then, cross him off the list.

It was, uh, Wednesday or Thursday last week, I think.

Ha ha I’m showing my age now! (39) You’d recognise that fire surround after you’d struggled to put one back together and then realised you’d not put the plug back in for the lights or even worse left the baffles out of the heat exchanger! 😉

You could always use the old ‘hose onto the roof’ trick to try to prove it one way or another. I had to resort to that once to show a builder that his flashing wasn’t as good as he was claiming.

Ha ha I’m showing my age now! (39) You’d recognise that fire surround after you’d struggled to put one back together and then realised you’d not put the plug back in for the lights or even worse left the baffles out of the heat exchanger!

I think you may have been out to service this one at some point. (-:

Update for those who care.

Had a surveyor out today courtesy of the nice people at M&S. He’s had a camera-on-a-pole looking at the roof, reckons there’s some pointing needs doing but that’s unlikely to be related.

Plumber’s been, confirmed that in his measured opinion it’s likely to be a weeping pipe somewhere around the back boiler. He’s coming back tomorrow to take everything to bits.

You see now, if you’d have tried my suggestion last week…… 😉

He’s had a camera-on-a-pole looking at the roof

I remember when they just stood the other side of the road with a pair of binoculars. I’m getting old.

More water has come through. Lifted the boards, drip, drip, drip. It’s raining, hot water and heating are both off.

Hmm. If I still had my beard, I’d be stroking it.

stuff doesn’t have to be on for pipes to hold water under pressure though?

True I suppose.

Fiddlesticks. The aerial bloke, the surveyor and the plumber all reckon it isn’t the roof. I’ll be cross if they tear half of the wall down and it turns out to be coming down the chimney.

put your hot water/central heating on. if you can reach the drips and they are hot its from your heating/hot water. if cold then maybe it is from before the heating stage. just an idea (that hopefully hasnt already been suggested as i read the rest of the thread a few days ago and my memory isnt all that)

So.

If any of you suggested this,

… which would result in this,

… then you can award yourself five Cougar Points.

At least they’ve found it – all fixed now?

Last winter, found this in my parent’s cottage:

Took some trying to find it behind the kitchen, in the wall:

Cougar: now is the perfect time to open the fireplace up a bit more and put a stove in 😀

Great idea. Lend me ten grand?

They’ve said that replacing the pipe is a huge job due to where it runs. They’ve exacted a repair using “Rubbaweld” amalgamating tape; said they’d never used it before but the plumber’s merchant swears by it… 😯 Seems to have worked anyway, and there’ll be a convenient viewing platform for me to keep an eye on it for a while.

Do you have swirly patterned carpets to match your orange walls, Cougar 😉

Not any more. And they’re not orange, it’s sorta pink. It was supposed to be a sort of warm cosy red but didn’t quite work out like that. Still, it’ll be going soon. (-:

The repair seems to be holding. Can’t get the bloody pilot light lit for love nor money though. Can hear gas and see the spark. Hm.

Update.

The patch failed last night. I’ve bodged it up with duct tape.

Spoke to the plumbers. They reckon they’ll have to do a proper job to guarantee it, which involves taking out the cistern for access, negotiating chimney stone work where currently the lead pipes bend round, and then replacing both pipes with copper for the entire run. They’ve quoted me £350+vat for this, and reckon it’ll be a day’s work at least.

Does this sound reasonable? I was expecting it to be more expensive if I’m honest, but I’ve no idea what I ‘should’ be paying for this sort of work.

Thoughts?

I’m afraid that I can’t offer any advice for your leaky pipes. But I thought you might like to know that you remind me of this chap. (From a photo you posted recently and the little cartoon of you on those links up there ^).

Haha, that could be worse.

I’ve been likened to Tom Savani (Sex Machine in Dusk till Dawn) and Lani Tupu (Crais in Farscape) before now.

can they not just cut out the duff bit and fit somethign like this?

or does everyone get funny about lead pipe?

AR for the win then.

Image is broken there.

They said that, uh, lead wrap? isn’t reliable and prone to failure, IIRC.

my link?

try here: http://www.ultimatehandyman.co.uk/using_a_compression_pipe_repair.htm

Ah right.

Yeah, problem there I suspect is that it’s old lead. Soft, brittle etc.

unlucky, as an 1890s house owner myself I’m waiting for a plumbing nightmare, only had a couple of minor problems so far.

Did you complain about that pizza?
(greatape’s comment made me look at your other pics)

lol

Of course I didn’t. It’s outrageous though, isn’t it?

(Gods, I wonder what else is on there)

you’ve been poaching my local trails and may or may not have entered buildings that I’ve not been inside myself 🙂

Rivy?

Vaguely amusing story behind that. We’d stopped for a breather and a bloke was milling about with a few young kids. Shouted across to me asking if I was scared or brave of something similar.

Transpires, the door was open and the kids were egging him to take them in, but he was scared. So I went ‘whatever’ and had an explore. Got to the top of the tower, in the middle it’s pitch black but it brightened up towards the top. The bloke and kids followed me up, but bottled it halfway and the kids started crying so he took them back down.

I came back for the camera and went back up. After a few snaps, I heard the kids shouting up asking if there were any ghosts. I cupped my hands to my mouth and went “OoohoooOOOoohOooh!!” and I’ve never heard little feet run so fast. Or big ones.

yup.
hehe, might see if it’s still accessible next night ride 🙂

If you’re spunking 400-odd just to return to status quo, it’s worth thinking about sticking something else in there. What does the backboiler serve?