Newman’s were called upon by a home owner in East London who had discovered diagonal cracking and substantial rotation to the brick arch lintels to the rear of the property causing substantial concern.
With our Head office in Hammersmith, West London a surveyor was able to attend site on short notice to carry out a Structural Survey and diagnose the cause of cracking.
Lintel Failure
Lintel Failure was diagnosed after the replacement of the original load bearing timber frames which caused the lintel above the frame, supported mainly by the timber window, to drop.
In order to restore the masonry TwistfixBed Joint Reinforcement was installed to create masonry beams within the structure which distribute the structural loads across the masonry and create a reinforced beam alleviating the need for all the lintels to be rebuilt.
Lintel Reinforcement
In very few instances it is not possible to save the lintel as the damage is to severe and a rebuild is the only option. Luckily for our client all of our technicians are time served in both traditional and modern methods of masonry repair.
Across England there are hundreds of bridges and viaducts constructed from brick and random stone usually built using brick arch spandrels, built well over 100 years ago, having not been designed to meet today’s standards with volume and weight of traffic that we have on the roads and railways today many are in need of reinforcement and repair in order to maintain their use.
Bridge Repairs
Many of these structures have fallen into a state of disrepair and must be reinforced in order to keep them open and serving their purpose. Traditional reinforcement is costly and can lead to major road and rail closures and diversions but Newman’s are able to use modern methods of repair to reinforce these structures.
Bridge Reinforcement
Utilising the Twistfix system we are able to reinforce delaminated spandrels enabling them to withstand the weights and speeds that road and rail vehicles impose in this modern world.
By installing helical bar to the underside of the spandrel and installing grout ties through the spandrel we are able to provide an engineered reinforcement solution that enables the route to stay open and improves the load capacity of these bridges and viaducts. Click here to view the Twistfix method video.
Much of the pointing has failed on the large structures and removal and replacement is a delicate process. Newman’s skilled technicians are able to reinstate mortar that’s loose or missing combined with our structural reinforcement scheme we are able to provide a last guaranteed solution.
Newman’s are currently undertaking wall tie replacement, London for one of our council clients.
We were called upon to carry out a wall tie survey to 15 properties suffering signs of wall tie failure. The classic signs of horizontal cracking within bed joints highlighted the defects and upon our visual and intrusive wall tie survey we found that the existing ties had corroded causing them to expand and lift the bricks work.
Wall Tie Replacement
Wall tie failure is a common defect among houses built in prior to the 1980’s and buildings of all types and constructions suffer from wall tie failure due to the ties being constructed from mild steel or wrought iron and moisture penetration through the pointing of a building reacts with the metal and causes it to rust and expand lifting the masonry. There are other causes of wall tie failure of which we will cover in future blogs.
With this particular project that is underway wall ties are being located using a metal detector and isolated using Twistfix’s unique Clansleeve’s that encompass the failed tie in a sleeve filled with resin that prevents any further corrosion. The sleeve slips onto the tie within the bed joint alleviating the need to remove any bricks.
Wall Tie Replacement
The replacement wall tie we are using for this wall tie replacement, London is Twistfix patented 9mm stainless steel patented CD tie which enables us to install the wall ties quickly as only a 7mm pilot hole is required to drive the tie in. Using this tie enables us to complete over an elevation per day and it also becomes load bearing as soon as it is installed removing the need to wait for any setting times for resins or fixings.
If you have signs of wall tie failure or require a wall tie replacement specialist be sure to contact Newman’s today on 0333 444 0154 or email enquiries@newmans.com
