DEFECTIVE TIMBER

Many historic buildings make heavy use of structural timber, which is unfortunately prone to a whole host of problems. When structural timber fails, the carefully-engineered loads are thrown off balance, and that can cause significant damage and destabilisation of stonework, brickwork and all manner of building elements. Fortunately, we can restore the structural timber and maintain historical accuracy at the same time.

Although failed timber is often easy to spot, it takes an expert eye to see the warning signs approaching. If your historic building makes use of structural timber, it’s smart to commission a survey for issues such as decay, rot, shrinkage and distortion. Once we’ve identified a problem, we can take action to prevent any damage to the surrounding masonry.

As with our stonework, we always do everything we can to make our repairs suit the methods of the original build. That means careful engineering of wood, following equally careful research. We’ll find out how the original structural timber would have been engineered and then replicate it as closely as possible, for an authentic yet effective repair.

Structural timber can be made from a range of materials. We’ll identify the original timber and source from the same species to further strengthen the historical continuity. The actual installation of the timber is performed with the greatest respect for the surrounding masonry and will be kept as non-invasive as possible