Recent content by PBSpears

It's not a big crack with no broken brick and personally I wouldn't worry about it. I can't think of any reason why it would get worse apart from water getting into the damaged region, and even then it would take a very long time to cause a problem. The crack is there because the outside of the...

I don't understand where the second picture is. Is it yours or next door's property? Is the flashing at the bottom of the second picture the same as what you can see on the extreme right of the first picture? Is your neighbour's a mirror image of yours? How far is from the bottom right of the...

It would be interesting to hear what structural engineer has to say. Please let us know.

I was just going off the video which seemed to indicate two bars per course and presumably a deeper slot. The rental cost of 2 acrow props is trivial. OP seems fairly risk averse and I was just trying to reassure him.

I don't think there is much chance of further deterioration. The only mechanism I can think of is water ingress right through to the next bar, which I think is probably quite a long way back. Even if that occurs it still has to rust through which will take a long time. If you do a high quality...

The way OP wants to use them is to rectify a structural fault. I don't actually agree there is a structural fault, but that's beside the point, OP seems to think there is. If the lintel was cracked and sagging, and brickwork cracked, then there would be no question that this is a structural...

If you put in the helical bar reinforcement then strictly speaking that constitutes structural work on the property which you have to declare when you sell it. That might put people off. Just putting a patch in the notch isn't a structural repair and isn't declarable.

Cracked brickwork is a sign of structural failure. I'd seriously consider a system like that if I had cracked brickwork, but I looked and couldn't see any. So I don't think it's necessary. If you decide to do it just for the ultimate belt and braces then I would recommend propping up the...

I should have written that beams are stressed most in bending near the centre of the unsupported span. The amount of bending where the notch is will be small. Unless the your new bar(s) are welded to the existing one there will be no increase in overall structural integrity. I wouldn't try to...

I'm considering internal insulation on our solid brick wall Victorian house. My biggest unresolved concern is the possibility that lowering the temperature of the walls will cause frost damage to the brickwork. The bottom metre of about half the house is rendered and I suspect that is covering...

My view is that if it was going to fall down it would have happened by now. The ends of beams are less stressed in bending than the middle so they can sustain some damage without problems. It's difficult to see from the photos but it seems that there is quite a width that is not damaged. It...