Old Timber Beam

[thebadger7]

Hi all,

I have a timber bresummer beam supporting the front elevation of my house, which has sagged in the past causing some structural movement (upstairs windows lean inwards) - there is some evidence of woodworm in the beam but it's 'not too bad' apparently.

Had a structural engineer round (at a £200 cost for a half an hour inspection and brief report!!) who said it's likely to be historic movement, but wouldn't commit to advising whether to carry out repairs until a timber specialist has seen the beam (instead is going to give some options based on a timber inspection). Does this sound fair? At this rate it's going to cost hundreds before any work is even carried out!

He also suggested putting in an RSJ underneath the old beam, but I'd have thought the timber would compress over time if it's weakened. Has anyone had experience doing this? Other option is to strengthen brickwork above beam.

Cheers

Luke

 

[theprinceofdarkness]

OK then, how old is the house?, is the beam the same age? is it dry? how bad is the worm is it live?? what size is the beam?. I suspect that the windows lean towards each other and not inwards. There is no problem with the beam "compressing" this would only occur at the ends and some years ago. The bearing surfaces of modern beams is only 2" in length!
My Victorian barn has some 6" X 4" joists, there are really soft compared with modern joists of the same size. They all show wood worm. When I cut two out, the wood worm had only penetrated 1/4" below the surface. Providing the floors in the upstairs room do not bounce too much, I would forget about it.
Frank

 

[thebadger7]

Thanks for the reply, Frank.

House is 1880s terrace, but was converted to a shop a long time ago hence the bresummer (I did another post about this which resulted in me getting the structural engineer in!). Can't tell if it's live woodworm or not - there are a few exit holes and the edge is a bit soft but you can only gt a screwdriver a few mm into it. Attached is a photo of the house which shows the leaning windows - there are cracks to the render where the movement occurred.

Trying to fix it to stop any future movement and to make selling it easier...