www.stevebutler.co.uk

steve@buildingsurvey.co.uk 

0115 775 0284  

Courtyard Business Centre, 41a Southwold Drive, Nottingham NG8 1PA

Open 8.30am to 6.30pm

Home

Structural Survey - Fees

RICS Expert Witness Reports

 

RICS CHARTERED SURVEYORS STRUCTURAL SURVEY IN RESPECT OF A LEANING GABLE END

30^th October 2017

 

 

Dear Sir

 

31 Grove

 

Thank you for your instruction to report on a leaning gable end at the above property.

 

The property is a detached two storey house of solid brick wall and pitched slate construction constructed about 1925. The property is rectangular with a two storey projection at the rear.

 

The rear gable end of the main part of the property leans out about 150mm above first floor level. Measurement with a spirt level suggest that the top fifteen course of bricks lean out from above the point at which two large longitudinal structural roof timbers bear into the wall. The top ten course of the wall are of single skin construction and particularly vulnerable to further movement.

 

The wall only supports itself and the likely cause of the leaning wall is failure to restrain it at the time of construction. As it appears that the wall may move under the load of being pushed with a hand it should be restrained as soon as possible.

 

Remedial works are as follows

 

1. Demolish the top fifteen course of brickwork and rebuild them with a 225mm wall tied together with either bricks laid across the wall or metal ties. Straps set into the centre of the wall can be secured to the roof structure. The straps can be secured to the existing longitudinal timbers and to planks screwed across and perpendicular to the rafters just below each side of the apex.  18mm x 120mm x 2.4m floor boards or similar would suffice.

 

2. The existing wall can be strapped to the roof structure as described above with raw plugs. An inner leaf can then be constructed for the top ten courses and tied to the outer facer of the wall with metal ties cemented into raked out sections of the existing mortar.

 

Yours faithfully

 

Steve Butler

 

SJM Butler