Introduction and chimney question

[CPA]

Good afternoon all,
I live in the Grade 2 listed house pictured above. It was built, I gather. in the late 15c. It was the Court House for the area during the Civil War before being converted into a Malt House I think in the 18c before becoming residential in the last 130 years or so. Anyway, I am worried about the chimney stack shown in the photo. As you can see, the base of the chimney clearly needs work and there is a gap appearing between the 2 stacks. I am thinking that the best route is to get a structural survey of the chimney done to ascertain the level of the problem before I get builders involved. Does that make sense ?
Many thanks for any thoughts. I have been in contact with the local conservation officer by the way who clearly wants to be kept in touch.
Best wishes
Charles

 

[DJH]

Hello Charles and welcome. That is a very nice house you have ...

Somebody will come along shortly with advice for you but I would imagine that your chimney has been like that for many years and would, more than likely remain like it is for many more so any decision you make need not be made in haste.

Doug

 

[Keith Bowman]

What a lovely house.
It looks as though the lower part of the brickwork on the part of the chimney nearest the camera is of Tudor bricks and the upper part has been rebuilt at some time in larger (Georgian or Victorian?) bricks. The crack appears to be on the join between the older and the newer work. I'm not sure how much that helps though except that any repairs could probably be done without destroying the (original?) early brickwork.

 

[CPA]

Thanks Doug and Keith,
ideally I would like to leave the stack as it is and just repoint with lime mortar and repair the base and surrounding tiles.
Just need to find someone in North Hampshire who knows what they are doing !
The wisteria is reputed to be around 150 years old incidentally.
Best wishes
Charles

 

[CPA]

Rather a better photo of the front of the Malt House showing the chimney stack left of centre. One of the problems is that the lane goes directly in front of the house making scaffolding tricky I suspect.
Best wishes
Charles

 

[livias]

You could speak to Gerard Lynch
http://www.brickmaster.co.uk/
He is near Milton Keynes so not exactly on your doorstep though it could be worse and he does know his stuff
Anna

 

[88v8]

Have you seen this article?
http://www.periodproperty.co.uk/ppuk_discovering_article_038.shtml
A bit on leaning.

Can it not be scaffolded from the other side?

I presume the stacks are not tied together, so some degree of separation is almost inevitable.
I would start by repointing, and then think about it for a dozen years.

If you wish to keep an eye on it, you could also epoxy one of these in place
http://www.surveyorsequipment.co.uk/shop/measuring/crack_monitoring_tell_tales/crack_monitoring_tell_tale_corner_plus.php
and monitor it with binoculars.

Ivor

 

[bennoa1]

Just needs a bit of pointing (I'd use NHL5 as its exposed and if you use it then the NHL5 will be stronger than 3.5) and maybe redo the lime fillets at the base of the chimney, but I wouldn't be concerned with the leaning, just take some pics and do something if it starts to get worse.

 

[CPA]

Thank you all for the advice. I just need to find someone local who has experience of this kind of work. I'll put a photo of access from the rear on here in a bit but I don't think it is that easy. Back shortly.
Best wishes
Charles

 

[Lewis Tiffany]

Once water starts to get being the pointing it very quickly starts to wash out the pointing below and once wet and cracked the frost thaw cycle pushes more pointing out making it look worse than it is .
I would wait until the weather warms up and just repoint the whole chimney stack .

 

[CPA]

Thanks for that Lewis, I agree.
Here are a few more photos of the rear of the Malt House with the chimney off centre right in the main picture.
Best wishes, Charles

 

[Flyfisher]

Lovely house!

I wouldn't be worrying too much about the scaffolding practicalities as they seem able to deal with all manner of awkward situations. I might be worrying about the cost though, which could easily be more than the pointing/repair work itself.

While searching for a suitable chimney craftsman, it might be worth contacting two or three local scaffolding firms for a quote.

 

[CPA]

Thank you Flyfisher.
Bw
Charles

 

[mims&pip]

Hi and welcome Charles

Your house is gorgeous - I have nothing further to add to the great advice given above, but wanted to add my praise of your fabulous wisteria! I would love to see a picture of it in full bloom as I bet it looks amazing

We have one here that was planted when our early 1850s house was extended in 1924 - it's also a bit of a beast with a huge trunk and extends some 60' across the garden frontage. We will need to do some serious pruning work as when we purchased the house a year ago the beast was entangled in the timber rails of the balcony which needs to be rebuilt as a result, see attached pics!

Mims x

 

[CPA]

Hello Mims,
thanks for the comments and photos. Here is the wisteria in full bloom although not a v good photo.
Best wishes
Charles

 

[mims&pip]

Wow, Charles.......thank you for the pic - that's stunning and makes ours look insignificant by comparison (although at 92 years I guess ours is a mere baby :wink: )!

Can I ask whether you do much in the way of pruning? We've found that ours is too huge to do a great deal with*, although I did have to get ruthless with the secateurs where it was scrambling over the roof on the middle portion of the house that bridges old and new. You can't see that bit in my pics, but there is a 1920s verandah with balcony above, both of which are extremely pleasant places to sit when the beast is in full flower

All the best with getting your chimney issue resolved x

* Or rather, I'm scared to be too brutal in case I stunt its growth!

 

[CPA]

Hi guys,
we prune it every September after the secondary flowering to keep it out of tiles etc.
We gave it a radical one 2 years ago; the village thought that we had killed it or been over drastic!
However last spring's flowering was the best in 10 years andit now looks perfectly normal.
Best wishes
Charles

 

[CPA]

Hi guys,
we prune it every September after the secondary flowering to keep it out of tiles etc.
We gave it a radical one 2 years ago; the village thought that we had killed it or been over drastic!
However last spring's flowering was the best in 10 years and it now looks perfectly normal.
Best wishes
Charles

 

[mims&pip]

Hi guys,
we prune it every September after the secondary flowering to keep it out of tiles etc.
We gave it a radical one 2 years ago; the village thought that we had killed it or been over drastic!
However last spring's flowering was the best in 10 years andit now looks perfectly normal.
Best wishes
Charles

Thanks Charles

 

[DJH]

Mrs DJH has planted two wisterias, one about 4 years ago which has flowered twice and the other which has been in for five years and hasn't flowered yet... :?:

Charles, you might consider when you point your chimney drilling through and fitting stainless steel threaded bars using resin as a fixing agent and pointing the holes with mortar.

Doug