Guaranteed wall tie replacement – oh dear..

Last week I had the misfortune to be asked to check another wonky remedial wall tie installation.  My client lives in Morley, Leeds and had his wall ties replaced about 12 years ago.  His house is detached, brick-built, with large areas of external render.  It is cavity wall insulated. He wants to decorate the render, […]

Effect of mortar type on wall tie corrosion

Most surveyors are well aware that black-ash mortar causes wall tie corrosion.  However, there are not many opportunities to see this as clearly demonstrated as it is in my video.  I was fortunate to be asked to survey a property in Gargrave, North Yorkshire today.  The pre-war semi, is constructed in a combination of sand […]

Wall tie survey without a boroscope.

When I first started out in wall tie replacement in 1985, I didn’t own a boroscope, so all inspections were done without one. This is still one of the best ways of inspecting cavity wall ties, though it is time consuming and messy. The boroscope is king these days and if used carefully it does […]

It’s True, cavity wall tie work this bad exists and is being done again as you read….

I thought I would post an example of just what the wall tie replacement industry can spew out as ‘specialist’ guaranteed work.  I’ve been involved in this work, in and around Yorkshire for 24 years and I can say that quality has improved over that time in my business. However, the 90’s and up to […]

Quick wall tie survey – part 1 – The Boroscope

For those who wonder just what a boroscope inspection, for wall tie corrosion involves, here’s a short video I shot in North Yorkshire a few days ago. It is clipped to view the relevant bits – three wall ties are normally looked at when I survey a semi-detached house like this one. You may have […]

Copyright © 2010 Preservation Expert. Legal Stuff: All the advice and information in the posts on my blog is made in good faith and is based on my experience and knowledge at the time of writing. However, nobody is infallible and whilst I’m confident that most of what I write about preservation issues is accurate, there’s a good chance there’ll be an error or two somewhere. I do change my mind about stuff, as I gain more experience. In view of this you must make your own decisions on whether to follow any advice I write and think about this; I could be wrong. No responsibility will be accepted by the author for any losses anyone may suffer as a result of any mistake or for the consequence of any action you take as a result of reading this blog. If you do suffer a loss, resulting from anything I’ve written, a verbal heartfelt apology will be your only compensation.