Customer satisfaction = joy

This is a bit off the preservation topic, though it still involves my work.  I had a long and busy day surveying today, around Leeds mainly, looking at rising damp, wet rot and wall tie corrosion. The traffic was awful. The following is copy of a letter that came in the post whilst I was […]

Micro-drilling construction timbers. How and why it works.

Wet Rot. Dry Rot, beetle infestations.  All real problems in construction timbers.  In most cases diagnosis and estimation of the extent of the problem is easy; a torch and a screwdriver being all the tools needed, by any half-decent timber infestation surveyor. However, when large section timbers, valuable historic members or restricted access is concerned, […]

Cavity wall tie corrosion in Yorkshire (now getting much worse)

I worked on my first remedial cavity wall tie installation job in the summer of 1984.  It was a domestic house in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire.  The detached house was brick, built with black ash mortar. A Structural Engineer had noticed some slight bulging of the wall and suspected wall tie corrosion was at work.  Without […]

Capillary active waterproofing? (for concrete).

Concrete is not generally waterproof.  Pores and cracks within will let water through and the age old problem is how to stop it. Most methods involve sticking a layer of something other than concrete on one side of the slab/wall or another.  Usually these are bitumen based, with little affinity for damp concrete.  Applying them […]

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, […]

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.