Breathe deeply and keep calm! The timber report is back!
Basically all of the timbers at the outside wall end of the house are very damp at the end. There is a supporting beam along the length of the wall in the living room, which is completely rotten and needs replacing with a concrete lintel. The beams then need to be dried out completely and the ends need to be painted with anti rot treatment. The ceiling of the living room will need to be acro-propped while this happens. A similar thing will have to happen in the kitchen, in terms of the beams being dried out and treated.
The good news is.. no sign of beetle infestation.
The bad news is that the timber man is recommending a four week drying out period, using at least two industrial dehumidifiers, before any plastering etc is done.
After discussion with Graham Ottaway, this will mean the work planned for this week happening as planned, but then a gap of 3-4 weeks before anything further can happen in the house. This will push the completion of the work into August.
This is disappointing, but not that surprising. I could see, as soon as they had taken the ceiling down that the beam was crumbling. Graham is going to get a price for the extra work, including the hire of another dehumidifier, to us soon.
Another piece of news is that Graham is picking up the staircase tomorrow! That will definitely be a big step forward!
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And I didn't actually intend that pun!
ReplyDelete:-)