Structural repairs

[MikeUniformMike]

Does anyone know how much it would cost to have a wall tied in and repointed please?

How long is a piece of string? What kind of wall, how big? What has the structural engineer recommended in terms of frequency of ties? A flank wall of an average terrace house will cost at least couple of thousand to repoint alone (incl scaffold) so I don’t think you can be looking at much less than £10k for structural work as well.

Sorry for taking so long to see your reply pomegranita and thanks for replying.

Smallish turn of century end-of-terrace. 2 up 2 down. It's the gable end. The structural engineer was someone I knew vaguely who came to have a look and it was a while ago and he suggested 4 helicoil at 1st floor ceiling rafter height and repointing.
The kitchen is at the back and on the same wall and also needs repointing.

The wall is single brick and shows wear and tear.
There are hairline cracks on the inner plaster and signs of damp.
Inner first floor ceiling has hairline cracks and signs of something wrong at join to end wall.

Pointing up in loft desperately needs doing. Gable end looks like it leans inwards.

Front and rear of house incl side return need repointing but I have no spare cash. so that and the kitchen part of gable end wall would probably have to wait.

I think the distance from front to where the kitchen starts is about 7 metres.

It depends. (I'm assuming wall tied in = wall ties. If not ignore this paragraph) A friend of mine had hers for just under £1.5k for 4 sides of her wall. As they require lesser wall ties than required, they did a partial refund. She hired her own scaffold as it works out much cheaper. You can ask the wall tie company for breakdown quote ie Wall Ties installation and Scaffold Hire.

What kind of property and the stone is yours? If it's old, make sure it's lime/NHL pointed and not lime/NHL cement combo. It's usually done in Autumn before frost hits although can be done in spring after frost. I was told that some pointers prefer to do the work in autumn. If it's a pro they'll know the need to cover with hessian when it's too hot a weather. The hard bit is removing the old pointing. It's unavoidable but there's high percentage of defacing the bricks using angel grinder (faster and cheaper). Of course it depends on the workmanship of the pointer and whether he sub the job to someone ese to remove the old pointing. If unsure, you can ask them to do a sample for you to see if you like the colour or style depending on type of wall.

I've seen a few homeowners on instagram doing their own pointing on their cottage-y house. There's a few courses ie Mike Wye etc. Scaffold hire if I recall what she told me was £400/month for 4 wall sides

Thanks nameusername.
The recommended ties were Helicoil. It's not a big job if it goes smoothly. They are a bit like bit screws that are drilled in.
The brick is yellowish brown brick and is quite worn in places. The house is approx. 125 yrs old Victorian end of terrace and the mortar is the lime one not lime-concrete.

The wall is bowed from having had a concrete tile roof put on it, as does next door- the one I have a party wall with (I hear all their parties ). The roof doesn't appear to be leaking but the gable point sticks up a bit.

I have other work that needs doing, including:

1. A sagging ground floor at weak point in gable end wall - it sags about 5 cm at weakest point, possibly caused or not helped by heavy furniture. Floor is laminated and is ready for replacement. I don't know what is under it.
2. There might be a broken drain under the patio.
3. Fairly minor handyman jobs like replacing exterior doors.
4. Skim-plastering affected internal walls and 'through-lounge' ceiling.

I am on an extremely tight budget (currently between jobs with no savings) but cannot ignore this much longer as I'm getting more and more worried.

Would I need to get a proper structural engineer report, and instructions for the builders?
Could an experienced brickie do the tying in and repointing?

Where are you located? I'll try to get which company my friend used and will pm the details. I'll also include some lime pointer tradesman if you like that I've seen online based on their excellent handiwork which I've bookmarked for my own reference. Hers is a late victorian terrace too. Like you, she did her wall ties first. Luckily, the pointing can be put off for now. Keep an eye out whoever does the pointing to make sure that they don't use cement.

Do you have a picture of the bowing? She wasn't even aware of wall ties until it was highlighted by the surveyor where the slight bowing can be seen on next door property. Not on hers though although there were some need replacing. IMO, I would personally use a professional wall tie person as it'll be under warranty and if I'm not wrong, you can pass the warranty on to the next owner subject to ownership transfer fee.

When you say sagging ground floor, is it a suspended wooden floor? I mean this kind?

I would certainly get specialist advice from a structural engineer, as if the builder follows their advice and it doesn’t work, you have some comeback as they will be insured against this kind of risk. It’s a huge of money to spend for it not to do what you’re expecting it to, so you need that peace of mind.
You have my every sympathy as I can read the anxiety in your words.... If it’s any consolation, bulging gable ends are relatively common in that age and construction of house, especially where the property has undergone other renovations such as the heavy concrete roof you mention, the removal of chimneys breasts and / or interior walls. It seems overwhelming to you but it won’t faze a decent builder and the work does not need to be particularly disruptive.

Thanks for your reply.
The floor probably is like that. The laminate moves in places. and is slightly 'wavy'. It looks like the glued stuff and is at least 15 yrs old.

I haven't done the wall ties.
I contacted a few builders and they had no idea what I was on about and disregarded what I said.

I was under the impression that it would all cost about £50K or something but if I could get the ball rolling for say £1500K ...

Will PM you my location.

Thanks both of you.

The chimney breasts have been removed.
The chimney is still there and is on the party wall side. The chimney wall in the loft needs repointing too. I've not been up there for some time. The ceiling landing above the stairs has cracks all over it.

homebuilding.co.uk has a good description of what can cause bulging walls and what may need to be done to correct them. You need a Structural Engineer’s report and instructions to the builder to correct the fault of a bulging wall. Few builders would try and do this work without specialist advice because the wall may need to be rebuilt.

It could need wall ties but that won’t help the single thickness wall support the heavy roof. The construction of the roof and joists should also be looked at. Until someone looks at all the structural issues, working out a cost on MN is impossible. Can you claim on your house Insurance?

If the chimney breasts have been removed, what is supporting the chimney? It appears Work has been done to the detriment of the structure and all of it needs looking at.

Thanks Bubbles.
There is a load bearing joist. The loft has a chimney breast.
The roof is too heavy but should be ok for now if the end wall is tied in and repointed.
I can't afford to get all the work done in one go. I was after a rough estimate really to know if I could get started.
My circumstances have changed since I bought the house.

I doubt that I could claim on the house insurance as I think that it would be considered as 'having not been kept in a good state of repair' or 'wear-and-tear'.

I'll check out the link after some sleep. Thank you for sending it.

The link that bubbles mentioned must be this one:
www.homebuilding.co.uk/repairing-walls-structural-problems/

Yes it was! I am hopeless at links! Consideration must be given to whether the solution will actually be the right one for the problem.

Thanks.

Did you manage to set everything out in the end?