Newman’s surveyors have carried out 2 interesting structural repair surveys today in London.
The first survey today was to two houses built along the edge a canal in west London. The movement is established as historic settlement causing cracking to the brickwork and altering the load paths resulting I diagonal cracking above the lintels indicating brick arch lintel failure. In order to restore the failed lintel masonry beams well be installed along with 450mm pinning ties installed vertically through the lintel.
Brick arch lintel failure
The second survey in London was to identify the cause of cracking to this grade I listed tower in central London. The tower is built from 13 inch solid brick work and had substantial areas of cracking. The cause of cracking is a combination of ground settlement, lintel failure and brick damaged caused by freeze thaw cycle. In order to repair the masonry over 1500 metres of helical bar will need to be installed.
Newman Building Solutions were contacted by a private home owner in South East London who had noticed that there was substantial cracking to the bay window of this late victorian property.
We carried out an extensive survey of the bay window and the front elevation and it was apparent that there had been brick arch lintel failure and out ward movement requiring lateral restraint.
With the introduction of the Twistfix heliforce system we were able to restore the structural integrity of the masonry. Twin 6mm helical rods were inserted into the bed joint crating masonry beams tying the bay window back to the main structure and distributing structural loads. Twistfix pinning ties were inserted vertically through the lintel tying them to the masonry above. We used 8mm lateral restraint ties installed through the external masonry tying into the floor joists.
Cracking to bay windows is a common defect to period properties that should not be ignored. Traditional costly, disruptive and time consuming methods should be avoided when you can utilise modern methods of masonry repair.
