Mr & Mrs Aitken, Worcestershire

Aug 2018

Structural Repairs to Stone Built Barn

Mr & Mrs Aitken were eager to reinstate their stone built barn and employed a surveyor to inspect and report upon the structure of the barn and assess what repairs were required.

The structure is a traditional field barn, possibly about 200-250 years old and was originally a fold-yard for cattle. The structure consists of stone walls about 550mm in thickness and various localised deformations were detected.

Report Observations

East Wall

The centre part of the wall is missing, the inner and outer leaves of masonry have separated, being no stretcher stones to tie in the leaves and an area of masonry missing above the doorway.

South Gable Wall

Masonry is missing from about 1st floor level upwards.

West Wall

Due to its exposure to the elements the external surface of the stonework has been damaged by frost action and the joists are deeply eroded to the extent that there are frequent voids between the stones.

There is damage to the masonry and a vertical crack near the SW corner.

North Gable Wall

Top level masonry missing

Timber Elements

All timber has suffered severely from prolonged exposure and decayed to such an extent the roof and floor structures have failed.

Recommendations

Masonry in General

Cut out built in timbers and replace with stone.

Remove all loose, friable and spalled surface deterioration of the stones themselves and rake out and re-point the joints, both inside and out, removing all weed growth from the masonry.

East Wall

Reinstate those parts of the wall that are missing, rebuild the jam of the doorway and incorporate stretcher stones and renew the lintel.

South Gable Wall

Remove the timber plate and rebuild the wall from this level up.

West Wall

Stitch and crack the near SW corner by cutting out cracked stones and inserting longer stretchers and rebuild masonry.

North Gable Wall

Reinstate masonry

AllBritain Site Report.

Following the structural report, Ian visited Mr & Mrs Aitken to complete a site survey of the highlighted areas and produced a free quotation and recommendations for the repairs.

The Work

The work took 7 days to complete, with workmen paying particular care and attention to keeping the original stonework where possible and colour of mortar for an authentic renovation.

Outcome

Mr and Mrs Aitken were extremely pleased with the overall finish of the barn and the could use it again immediately.