Bell Tower advice please!!

[craig kilty]

Hello all,

My family and I have recently moved into our 'new' home, a (badly) converted Victorian school. The bell tower is in a poor state and the louvres are at a shallow angle, which allows rain water in. This has damaged the rafters/joists etc. We did toy with the idea of putting perspex up to stop this, then changed our minds as it would look awful after a few months. Does anyone have experience of restoring similar features and are there any products on the market, like non reflective glass for instance, we could use to seal the tower? We would like to fit this on the inside of the tower.

Any advice/ideas would be appreciated.

Thank you.

 

[worms]

Craig,

Just wanting to say a welcome to the forum and bumping this back to the top. I am sure a pic of the bell tower would help everyone to fully understand the problem.

If the tower is in a poor state and needing major work, could you improve the angle (and if necessary the overlap) of the louvres? I would think caution might be required in putting anything behind the louvres that would prevent ventilation or increase the wind-loading on the structure.

 

[LadyArowana]

Towers can cause a lot of problems if they are not properly supported, if you think there has been damage to the structural elements then review by an appropriately qualified engineed might be wise. Is the building listed?

Every time I go past this church I wonder how wise the people are to be inside, and not just from a spiritual point of view :shock:

 

[Lime]

You are lucky to have your old school bell tower intact.
Many have been taken down.
I don't think sealing the bell tower is a good idea nor possible in the way you suggest.
However I don't know enough about the tower.
Have you easy access to it? (How do you propose to put the Perspex inside it?)
How big is it?
Does it still have its bell?

 

[worms]

...could you improve the angle (and if necessary the overlap) of the louvres? ...

I must confess, I had a mental picture of something a bit more modest than LadyA was envisaging! I was (perhaps wrongly) assuming the louvred section to be of timber construction, so relatively easy to upgrade.

 

[DJH]

Bell towers, clock turrets, domes, cupolas, spires, follys, rotundas.... I've chucked down some lead on all of these plus more in my time. Happy days

Does it have a lead roof?

Doug

 

[Owain]

Replacement steeper wooden louvres.
Then add weather resistant speakers from Technomad and an electronic carillon system
http://www.technomad.com/products/systems-carillon/
http://carillon.sharewarejunction.com/

 

[Penners]

If the tower is in a poor state and needing major work, could you improve the angle (and if necessary the overlap) of the louvres? I would think caution might be required in putting anything behind the louvres that would prevent ventilation or increase the wind-loading on the structure.

I agree. I would renew the louvres, making them a bit deeper to increase the overlap, and at a steeper angle, but I would certainly resist the urge to "seal" the louvred openings. As well as Worms' wind-loading observation, you must also consider ventilation. The tower needs a good circulation of air, particularly if the interior has become damp.

And of course you'll need to repair any seriously deteriorated rafters, joists, etc.

 

[craig kilty]

Thank you for your replies.

I have attached a couple of pics, as you will see we have started renovating it. I think the best option is to renew the louvres, as suggested by a few of you.

 

[Penners]

Seeing your photos, Craig, I also think it might be beneficial if your new louvres were closer together. I'm not at all surprised that those ones let in the rain - their angle is too shallow and they're too far apart.

 

[LadyArowana]

Seeing your photos, Craig, I also think it might be beneficial if your new louvres were closer together. I'm not at all surprised that those ones let in the rain - their angle is too shallow and they're too far apart.

I absolutely agree. Promted by this discussion I had been looking at how shutters on the shophouses are designed to cope with our monsoon conditions and they overlap quite well and are angled downwards. The idea is that the shutters could be closed to keep out rain etc, but the window behind would be open allowing ventilation, now they tend to be just decorative as people close the windows and turn on the aircon!

 

[agbagb]

I you can get inside it, fitting upstands on the back of the louvers might do the trick.

 

[Penners]

I think you'd still get rain-bounce from those louvres, even with upstands.

 

[robgil]

You could try a tight wire type mesh behind them.

 

[Owain]

Or lead-line the floor inside and run a spout through the wall to a gargoyle, so any rain in the tower is removed harmlessly. Fit a shower and you'd have a semi-open-air shower room!!