04/07/2026
There wasn't much being posted this week past but that doesn't mean we weren't busy.......... Infact quite the opposite
One of our projects on a converted sandstone coach house was having the soft strip carried out when the client made some unnerving discoveries.
A previous owner had removed a load bearing wall over a considerable span and had put in place a very undersized timber beam, the beam was suffering from severe deflection over the coarse of its span and at end had as little as 35mm end bearing sitting on some of the worst scunntchions Imaginable.
The scunntchions had not been built properly after the previous works where the coursing was soldier stacked instead of tooth bonded, the mortar was falling out left right and centre and the bricks were all suffering from heavy cracking along with the perp end and bed joints.
In short a recipe for disaster.
Thankfully this was spotted in the nick of time in order for us to recommend emergency propping (carried out by Scott Henderson and team at Apex all trades) and for us to contact/alert building control for them to visit in order for us to highlight both this and other issues such as un restrained free standing walls 2 storey plus attic, fire walls constructed from timber, load bearing walls above with potentially no structural support below, full height listing sandstone chimneys that appear to have had the breasts gutted and potentially no support provided.
A very testing week in all....... but we did manage to find some lovely old artifacts and we do love finding these..... artifacts that is not life threatening historic botches
