Our Services
Repair and replacement of historic timber frames, specialist steel reinforcement, and exterior render — carried out by carpenters and craftsmen working alongside architects, conservation officers and building control.
Timber Frame Repairs
Our core business and the task we really relish is the repair/replacement of timber frames.
Our most common repair is to cill plates at the bottom of the frames which have rotted away over the centuries. The building is propped, the old plate removed and a new one inserted. We usually raise the new plate and cut new mortise and tenon joints which we peg with oak pegs. Then new brickwork is added below to secure the new plate in place.
We also replace and repair the stud frames, floor joists, wall plates, tie beams, and all other unexpected parts that need it. All our wood is connected with historically accurate scarf joints replicating how traditional carpenters did in the past.
All Oak that we use is Air Dried to reduce movement and if possible locally sourced.
Specialist Steel Work
Often when renovating timber frame properties the actual integrity has been weakened by movement such as cill plate rotting away, roofs splaying due to a change of tile or general alterations over the centuries and specialist steel reinforcement needs to fabricated and installed by us to an approved design by a structural engineer to make the structure safe.
Commonly the design and construction doesn’t meet the needs or heights of the people that live in them and a solution needs to be found to make the building more usable.
In this case, we again engage a structural engineer and can for example raise ceiling heights and also add doorways through tie beams.
Exterior Repairs
As part of the renovation process, quite often the exterior render has to be replaced.
This can be due to it reaching the end of its useful life or being the wrong material.
Old laths as a substrate will over time disintegrate with wood worm and water egress and the render then becomes unattached and will crack and eventually fall off the building.
Concrete renders on the metal mesh that does not breathe coupled with the use of plastic membranes were used extensively for rendering on older properties post-war and although they have kept a lot of buildings structurally together it leads to the rotting of the timber frame through trapped moisture which encourages insect attack and fungal rot.