Alton Gable Repair

We were called to comment on sudden movement seen by the home owner in the brick panel infill in the gable of this town centre home in Alton. The gable was located in a busy road with schools and a home for the elderly nearby, so there is a great deal of pedestrian and vehicular traffic directly in front of the building.

We advised the home owner that a full structural assessment of the gable should be carried out. In our assessment we concluded that the timbers had decayed due to the application of impervious materials and that many of the timbers had decayed to the point that they were not much more than compost. The loads imposed upon the timbers, was compressing them and forming gaps at the top of the panels giving them space to move forward. If left the panels would have fallen out into the pavement and road.

We removed the brick panel infill and assessed the timbers more fully which revealed that most of the timbers were unusable. We supplied, cut and fitted new dry oak to match the existing. We also found that most of the bricks were too spalled and broken to reuse, so, sourced and fitted 'new' reclaimed bricks of the same type, size and texture.

Whilst undertaking this work we and the home owners received many positive comments about the work here, and it is hoped that the rest of the impervious paints will be removed to allow this building to breathe again.

We have had a lot of interest in the work here over the last few months, so thought it would be good to explain a bit more.

We have lived here for 35 years now and we are really happy the be the latest occupants of the place we call home. It is a Grade II listed building and is part of the conservation area of Alton.We consider our time here to be just one chapter in the story of 3 Amery Street and our task is to keep the building fit to house many happy families in the years to come.

Last Autumn, we noticed that something was wrong as panels began to come unseated from the timbers above where this notice is. We soon saw that this was a potentially disasterous situation – the front of the house was actually falling down!!!

On examination, we learnt that the work done to the building before we moved in had used methods that were not at all sympathetic to the structure. Some damage caused when taking down the old Fielders court buildings (to your right as you read this) had been repaired using concrete rather than lime mortar and over the years this allowed water to get in and start to rot the timbers. In addition, some internal work was bolstered using “surprising” methods.

So, the scaffolding here over the last six weeks has been in place to allow Roland and Debs of Historic Building Conservation and Repair Ltd (www.hbcandr.com) to attend to the work and effect a wonderful repair using the most appropriate methods and attending to the detail that will keep the house in top condition.

It has been a wonderful experience seeing craftsmen at work and we are so grateful to Roland and Debs for getting to us so quickly once they saw the seriousness of the issue. 

We now have a slice of the house that is brick, surrounded by the bits that have been painted. Knowing what we know now, we understand that paint applications over the past few decades have played their own part in damaging the surface, so we are considering whether to paint again but with appropriate paints, or remove the remaining white paint, which is not quite as easy as it may sound.

We have worked all the way with the conservation officers at East Hampshire District Council, so thanks are due to them too. We will talk to them about the choice we make and we have found it very interesting to hear what Alton residents say when passing. We do after all have to ensure that our home still looks its best. Needless to say, either decision needs specialist material which doesn’t come cheap, so we will probably take most of 2023 to decide what is best. In the meantime, we hope you enjoy the beauty of the brick and timberwork as much as we enjoy living here.

http://www.amery.co.uk/GU341HN.html

Written by Home owner

Scaffolding was provided by Advance Scaffolding: http://www.advancedscaffolding.uk/

Lime was provided by Chalkdown Lime: https://www.chalkdownlime.com/