Microdrilling for Commercial Property Surveys
Our timber microdrilling surveys investigate the internal conditions of your property’s timber using targeted resistance drill testing.
Whether you are investigating suspected deterioration, planning a refurbishment, or gathering evidence for a repair specification, a microdrilling survey can help a properly qualified surveyor understand the condition of the timber without destructive or invasive testing, and help you plan out the next steps of your project.
Our microdrilling surveys can be commissioned on their own, or they can be conducted alongside a broader survey, all depending on the scope of your planned works.
Established in 1968
Nationwide Coverage
44 UK Locations
When is Microdrilling Useful?
The external appearance of timber doesn’t always reflect its internal condition. Microdrilling can provide valuable information when a visual inspection isn’t giving you the results you need, giving you clarification when you are uncertain about deterioration within a beam, joist, or timber frame.
Microdrilling is appropriate at times when a structural engineer or surveyor requires further evidence on the condition of existing timbers, if suspected timber decay requires a deeper investigation than a visual inspection, or if an architect requires more information about the timber in question before considering structural repair or replacement options.
Our microdrilling surveys are always planned around your needs, with the timbers and access all considered as part of our investigation.
How Does Microdrilling Work?
Resistance microdrilling uses a fine drilling needle to record resistance along a selected path through the timber being investigated. The resulting profile provides information about variation within the timber and can help an experienced surveyor identify areas consistent with internal deterioration or voids.
Natural variation in timber can affect the readings, so a low resistance area being discovered does not automatically mean that dry rot, or other forms of deterioration, are present, just that further inspection is required.
The location of the tests will all be agreed with you ahead of the survey. The recorded profiles are interpreted alongside visual observations, as well as any other inspections included at the time of the microdrilling inspection, and will all be included within a written report delivered to you once the inspections are complete.
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What can Microdrilling Findings Tell You?
Microdrilling findings can provide valuable evidence about internal timber conditions along the tested paths. These findings can help identify areas that require closer investigation and contribute to any plans surrounding retaining, repairing, or replacing existing timber.
Microdrilling can help a qualified surveyor:
- Understand whether suspected deterioration extends internally at tested locations
- Define locations for further investigation
- Develop repair specifications
- Help surveyors consider whether existing timber can be retained
Microdrilling can support strength assessment, but it does not provide formal strength grading or confirm structural safety or load capacity by itself. Those conclusions require the appropriate wider professional assessment.
What Types of Timber is Microdrilling Appropriate For?
Microdrilling can be considered for existing building timbers where additional information about their internal condition is needed. Potential applications include:
- Structural beams and floor joists
- Timber frames and posts
- Sole plates
- Roof timbers
Suitability depends on the timber dimensions, access, finishes, and purpose of the investigation. We review these factors when agreeing the survey scope.
Microdrilling can also be considered for historic and listed buildings. Sensitive fabric, permissions, and conservation requirements must be reviewed before a microdrilling survey is booked in.
What Will You Receive Following a Microdrilling Survey?
The extent and scope of your microdrilling survey will be agreed with you ahead of your quotation for the work, so you will know exactly what the investigation will cover before you make your booking.
Following the completion of the microdrilling survey, you will receive a written report, with all of the findings from the survey laid out and explained clearly.
This report provides a record of our findings that can easily be shared with structural engineers, surveyors, architects, appointed advisors, or anyone else who needs the information within. Any additional findings, such as moisture readings, damp inspections, etc., will be included when they have formed part of the agreed service.
If our microdrilling survey has highlighted the need for remedial work that our team can undertake, our report will outline the survey findings and proposed work, and a clear quotation will be presented separately.
Timber Microdrilling FAQs
Microdrilling provides information about timber conditions along selected test paths, it does not, on its own, establish whether a beam is structurally safe.
Structural safety and load capacity require a separate survey from our qualified team of surveyors.
The test creates a tiny borehole, so it is described as minimally invasive. We consider suitable test locations and any requirements relating to test holes, finishes, and sensitive building fabric when agreeing the survey scope.
No. Microdrilling investigates internal condition and can provide evidence to support a wider strength assessment. Formal strength grading requires an entirely separate survey carried out by qualified surveyors.
If you believe that your project does require strength grading or structural calculations let us know at the time of your enquiry so we can make sure to provide a more comprehensive survey.
Yes, often it can be. Permissions, conservation requirements, sensitive fabric, and access will all be considered alongside the suitability of the microdrilling survey for the information required of the survey ahead of the inspection being booked in.
Testing may contribute evidence to support retaining existing timber, however retention depends on the wider condition and structural assessment.
Microdrilling alone cannot guarantee that any timber is suitably to remain in place.
Our surveyors will need suitable access to the agreed test locations, and the equipment will also need to usable within the testing space.
Let us know whether the timbers are exposed, covered by any finishes, or are positioned at height. Any exposition work, or access arrangements will need to be agreed before the survey.
The cost of a microdrilling survey depends on the property location, scope of testing, access arrangements, and reporting requirements.
All quotes are totally bespoke to your project and designed with your needs in mind.
Just fill in the form on this page, or call 0800 288 8660 to arrange a survey with a member of our team.
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