Properties across the UK that have been designed with structural timber are susceptible to wood rotting fungi and infestations of woodworm.
If the timbers within the building have been affected in any way, then this is when you will need timber repairs.
What Is Underpinning?
Underpinning is the repair process used in order to remedy the damage caused to a property’s structure and/or foundation. This form of structural damage is more often than not caused by aspects such as subsidence. Underpinning is required as a means to strengthen a build’s structure by bringing additional support to a foundation which has lost its original strength.
Why Is Underpinning Required?
When a property has suffering from subsidence damage, the foundation sustaining this damage will be left in poor structural health. Underpinning is thus used in order to restore this structural health back to its desired condition and remedy the strength which has been lost. Underpinning can further be used to strengthen the foundation of a build when an additional story or a basement is to be added. Underpinning is a repair method which further olds the ability to prevent a property from devaluing if it has experienced foundational damage.
How Do I Know If I Need Underpinning?
Underpinning is required when subsidence, the sinking or downward settling of a build’s foundation, has occurred. Subsidence can be identified via the sloping of, or cracks in, joints, bricks, doors, window frames, walls, ceilings, and floors. A further sign of subsidence is the general sloping of the property to one side.
What Is Traditional Mass Concrete Underpinning?
Traditional mass concrete underpinning is the most common underpinning technique. It entails the excavation of a segment of ground below an existing building’s foundation in a careful and controlled manner. This excavation is conducted to a depth with suitable bearing strata and then filled with concrete. This process is repeated, in sections, across the building’s foundation. Throughout the underpinning process, the building’s load is transferred between the old foundation and the newly created one by ramming a dry sand cement packing mortar in between the old and new foundation.
Do You Need Approval for Underpinning?
Underpinning is a repair method that calls for careful planning and execution and is thus subject to building regulations and requires approval from local building inspectors. Here at Structural Repairs, our underpinning services encompass the effective handling and required liaison with building inspectors as we successfully arrange all necessary inspections.
Underpinning -Flintshire
Underpinning -Chester
Underpinning – Wrexham
Underpinning – North Wales
Underpinning – Wirral
Underpinning – Deeside
Underpinning -Ellesmere port
Underpinning – Ruthin
Underpinning – Cheshire
Underpinning – Conwy
Underpinning – Denbighshire
