Corbels on Victorian Terrace

[MattJones]

Hi, I'm sure this will be my first post of many! I have just moved into a Victorian end terrace that hasn't had much love for the past few years and has had some questionable "repairs" Looking at the post on the forum this seems pretty common.
Although I have plenty to be working on we have a guy coming out to put a new roof on the place in the next month and along the top at the front of the house we have what I believe are corbels if my googling is any good. These are all looking a bit rough and seem to be rotten away so I would like to get these replaced while the roof work is going on but all I can find are upvc or plaster replicas which don't seem up to the task. Does anyone know if I can buy replacement timber items in a similar style to these or not?
Thanks for any help,
Matt

 

[mardinor]

Welcome, Matt. Lovely house! If the corbels need replacing, it's unlikely you'll find them off-the-shelf to exactly the same size. Try Dresser mouldings or Andy Thornton. If they don't have suitable sizes, call a local joiner who should be able to replicate the ones you have exactly without trouble.
But look again at what's there. In most cases, original victorian wood is much better than what you can buy new these days (slower growing) and I'd be amazed if some hardener and filler wouldn't restore them (if you go this route, use flexible epoxy like Repaircare dryseal or Timbabuild). I repaired all my 120 year-old sash windows back to bare wood 20 years ago, and they are better than new still.

 

[MattJones]

Thanks for your reply. I hadn't seen either of them places before and they have some real nice stuff on there so great to know about.
I would like to go down the restoration route, from below it looks like a couple are beyond saving but maybe some are ok. Main issue is access to them!

 

[mardinor]

Good to hear. Do look into the Repaircare system, or similar. Lots of youtube videos. It seems like daylight robbery, but it's the only stuff that flexes and so doesn't fall out after a year or two like regular 'car body filler' or Ronseal woodcare 2-pack does. Been there, done that, learnt the hard way! Easy DIY job.
If it were me, I'd do that from a ladder. A regular extending one would reach and there are good support mechanisms to secure them these days. But most tradesmen would insist on scaffolding which would cost a fortune (so worth doing with the roof job).

 

[Stevers]

From the time I lived in Sheffield I'm aware that some areas favoured wooden box gutters lined with lead carried on corbelling, either masonry or wood like that. Always seemed a strange idea to me, and all the ones I saw at that time (late 70s) looked distinctly past their best.

 

[88v8]

Hi, I'm sure this will be my first post of many! I have just moved into a Victorian end terrace that hasn't had much love for the past few years and has had some questionable "repairs" Looking at the post on the forum this seems pretty common.
Although I have plenty to be working on we have a guy coming out to put a new roof on the place in the next month and along the top at the front of the house we have what I believe are corbels if my googling is any good. These are all looking a bit rough and seem to be rotten away so I would like to get these replaced while the roof work is going on

You can make your own with a coping saw. Larch would be a good timber. Presume they're nailed to the wall plate so you may not get them off intact.

Get up on a ladder and have good look though before you condemn them, they may just need painting.

That chimney appears as if it needs some love; the rendering is often a sign of covering up decayed pointing, so I hope your roofing chap will be taking a good gander at it.

 

[Feltwell]

I just can't believe that your neighbour painted over that brickwork

 

[MattJones]

Cheers for the replies, I was putting it off but I'll have to get up there and have a good look.
Unfortunately that chimney doesn't belong to me so I can't go about doing anything with it other than repair the flashing.
Yeah I don't understand why they would paint over it either, we're only a block of 3 houses with that brick work and they stand out in the middle, not in a good way.