I've recently bought a large Georgian cottage in need of some repair, and while most of it is well within the capability of an experienced DIYer (which I am) there is one thing that particularly concerns me.
We have a "wing" of the house which is in effect a small self contained cottage in itself. It is classed as an outbuilding, but is presently uninhabitable for a variety of reasons, including damp. There are a number of hairline cracks in the render outside which have undoubtedly caused wind driven rain to enter the walls, but more disturbingly I have discovered cracking in one corner of the gable wall of approx 5-10mm all the way up the wall for two stories. It continues along the line of the coombed ceiling and down the opposite wall, albeit more as a hairline crack. The crack seems to have appeared and widened over the course of the last 15 years or so, which is apparently when any sort of internal improvement was made with plaster etc.
What I am therefore concerned about is that the gable wall is basically "peeling away" from the rest of the building. Looking on the other side of the wall, the pointing appears to be the original lime mortar and is crumbling. This wall gets a lot of weather on it, and doesn't appear to have been maintained at all. The land it overlooks belongs to my neighbour, and he has said he doesn't have a problem with me renewing the pointing, but I'm wondering if this is enough.
I've seen buildings where steel girders have been run along the outside wall with ties running through to bind them to the other walls. Could this be a solution, and does anyone know roughly how much it would cost to get a pro in to do this? It sticks in my throat to even think about getting someone in, but I work full time and don't really have the opportunity to get into something like that. Any responses appreciated.
We have a "wing" of the house which is in effect a small self contained cottage in itself. It is classed as an outbuilding, but is presently uninhabitable for a variety of reasons, including damp. There are a number of hairline cracks in the render outside which have undoubtedly caused wind driven rain to enter the walls, but more disturbingly I have discovered cracking in one corner of the gable wall of approx 5-10mm all the way up the wall for two stories. It continues along the line of the coombed ceiling and down the opposite wall, albeit more as a hairline crack. The crack seems to have appeared and widened over the course of the last 15 years or so, which is apparently when any sort of internal improvement was made with plaster etc.
What I am therefore concerned about is that the gable wall is basically "peeling away" from the rest of the building. Looking on the other side of the wall, the pointing appears to be the original lime mortar and is crumbling. This wall gets a lot of weather on it, and doesn't appear to have been maintained at all. The land it overlooks belongs to my neighbour, and he has said he doesn't have a problem with me renewing the pointing, but I'm wondering if this is enough.
I've seen buildings where steel girders have been run along the outside wall with ties running through to bind them to the other walls. Could this be a solution, and does anyone know roughly how much it would cost to get a pro in to do this? It sticks in my throat to even think about getting someone in, but I work full time and don't really have the opportunity to get into something like that. Any responses appreciated.
