Client: Domestic
Our client, a homeowner in Warwick, contracted Timberwise to complete traditional timber repairs on their property after severe damage caused by both fungal decay and woodworm. This property was a 1700s Grade II Listed Cottage of brick and timber construction, and was both occupied and furnished at the time of our inspection. The weather conditions were overcast but dry.
Challenges
As the building was of considerable age and historic value due to its listed status, great care would be required to ensure that any repairs complied with the heritage concerns of the property. As such, it was necessary to perform repairs without modern fixings or methods to maintain historic character and conservation compliance.
Observations
Our surveyor had visited the property previously to assess its external condition prior to conducting any repairs. During this visit, our surveyor identified several areas of damaged structural timber, most notably in a corner post and a horizontal support beam at the rear of the property. As these were load bearing, it was essential to remedy these at the earliest opportunity to prevent the risk of the building collapsing.
A close inspection of the timbers confirmed two likely causes of the timber’s damage. The first is that the property had come under attack from an outbreak of wet rot fungal decay. This was believed to be the result of weathering over the course of the building’s lifetime.
If left untreated for long enough, wet rot can eat away at the timber’s structural strength. In two locations, the decay was severe enough that the timbers were deemed unsalvageable, with large sections missing and structural integrity compromised.
Our surveyor also highlighted a secondary concern: the presence of a historic Death Watch Beetle (Xestobium rufovillosum) infestation. Death Watch Beetle are often known to favour hardwood timber such as the oak in the property’s frame. However, they are known to infest softwood timber as well, especially if they are well rotted. It is likely that the previous fungal decay had created the ideal environment for a colony of this species to thrive.
Our surveyor completed the survey by assessing the other timber components in the exterior of the property. As expected, many of the features, such as timber windows, showed significant weathering and deterioration, likely due to the age of the property over any specific defect.
Solutions
Due to the building’s listed status and historic value, repairs needed to be both structurally robust and sympathetic to the original construction. After discussions with our client and their conservation partners, our surveyor designed a treatment plan that would retain as much original material as possible.
To begin, our technicians prepared the property for wider treatment. This involved carefully cutting out and removing the severely decayed sections of external oak timbers. It is not ideal to remove any material in a conservation project unless necessary, but our surveyor believed that leaving the decayed timbers in place would likely result in the eventual collapse of some or all the building.
With the most severe damage removed, our technicians could then begin the task of replicating the timbers. They first sourced new structural oak timber sections to match the original profiles and dimensions of the previous timber sections.
Once on site, our technicians manufactured these to size, using traditional mortice and tenon joints to fix the timbers to the original fixtures. Mortice joints are a simple but stable method of repairing the structural timbers, and having been used for hundreds of years, these techniques would have been in line with techniques used when the building was first constructed.
Once the timbers were in place, our team used oak peg fixings to continue replicating the original construction methods, avoiding the use of metal fixings that we may use in construction today.
However, even though the new timbers would restore the structural integrity of the building, the threat of weathering, fungal decay, and woodworm are all ever-present. As a final treatment, our technicians applied a combined fungicidal-insecticidal treatment to the new timbers as well as the existing fixtures that had remained. Treating in this way would prevent a recurrence of wet rot or woodworm, and would also bring with it a long-term guarantee to ensure the protection of the building into the future.
Results
Our client was happy with the repairs conducted by our team of technicians and surveyors. They were satisfied with the techniques used, and were contented with the new timber fixtures, which they believed seamlessly integrated among the previous timbers. Finally, they lauded the protected measures, which not only stayed true to conservation compliance, but improved the property’s resistance to moisture ingress and its long-term durability.
Do You Want Help with a Structural Repair Solution?
Our dedicated and experienced team in Birmingham are ready to talk to you about your options for property preservation. Don’t hesitate to call us on 0121 412 9315, or you can request a survey online.
