Period Outbuildings Collapse

[Pford75]

I tend to agree with Ivor. If the diagnosis from the Loss Adjuster is not optimistic and you sense you will not succeed with the claim, I would say that you are better off 'withdrawing' the claim rather than having it refused.

A refused claim can require declaration when shopping for alternative insurance quotes, whereas a withdrawn claim does not. You can also find that a refused claim will increase your premiums (even though there is no payout) or result in conditions being applied to your schedule

 

[FamilyWiggs]

Well, it's been a couple of months, but finally we're getting somewhere.

We never heard back from the loss adjuster... no report, nothing.

Scaffolding went up a couple of days later. Last week the rest of the dsmantling started, and today - so exciting - the first course was relaid!

As with all things, the job is a little larger than when we started... plus we've decided that some of the original collapse may have been due to the soft clay the wall was sitting on, the the rebuilt section has had a concrete footing dug and put in. The outbuidling are essenitally built into the side of the hill, and about 8-10 years ago, the hill was excavated so it no longer buried the rear wall by about 10 feet. The thinking is this may have altered the flow of water down the mountain and under the building somewhat, leading to a change in ground conditions.

Alternatively the wall started to lean out becuae it was not tied in to the cross walls and it just took 200+ years to actually collapse.

I do hope the partial footing doesn't create a pivot point for the rest of the building.

Some pics. Friend me in Another Place (Robin Wiggs) and you can see all of them (but have to also put up with my incessant drivel and photo of pig butchery, etc too!) 8)

 

[FamilyWiggs]

 

[FamilyWiggs]

In many cases there's not a lot of through stones between the two skins of the walls, and the core is filled with a bit of rubble/lime mortar but mostly it seems to dust and an awful lot of seeds and organic matter. Here for example is a socket from one of the spine beams - full of seeds. Is this "normal" or did I have a cowboy builder 250 years ago??? 8)

 

[worms]

In many cases there's not a lot of through stones between the two skins of the walls, and the core is filled with a bit of rubble/lime mortar but mostly it seems to dust and an awful lot of seeds and organic matter. Here for example is a socket from one of the spine beams - full of seeds. Is this "normal" or did I have a cowboy builder 250 years ago??? 8)[/attachment]

250 years worth of mice & rats nests?

 

[FamilyWiggs]

I wondered that - but the whole of the wall is filled with them with no obvious cavities or nests. Besides, surely they'd have eaten the seeds?

 

[worms]

Could it originally have been straw, which has now largely decayed, leaving only the residual seed heads that would inevitably have been left behind in days when threshing was much less effective than a modern combine?

 

[MdB]

Sounds like standard wall construction to me. At least it matches our house. Few through stones and very little in the centre of the wall to hold it together apart from a few rats nests.

I do wonder if this was just laziness or if it was crude form of cavity to keep the wet outer layer away from the inner?

Out of interest, what mix are you using to put it back together with?

 

[Penners]

As with all things, the job is a little larger than when we started

Insurance claims usually are, aren't they? Did you discover that the collapsed wall had damaged your TV, computer, washing machine, cooker and dishwasher, too? :wink:

 

[FamilyWiggs]

Out of interest, what mix are you using to put it back together with?

Coarse hydraulic lime mortar 1:2.5

 

[MdB]

Out of interest, what mix are you using to put it back together with?

Coarse hydraulic lime mortar 1:2.5

Thanks. Sounds sensible to me.

 

[worms]

I wondered that - but the whole of the wall is filled with them with no obvious cavities or nests. Besides, surely they'd have eaten the seeds?

By coincidence the latest edition of Historic Scotland's Focus magazine arrived today and one of the articles includes a couple of photomicrographs of seeds and grain husks from sections of lime mortar from historic buildings. I've not had time to follow up the links to the research that is being quoted and I can't find a weblink to the latest Focus publication but if I can find anything further I'll let you know.

 

[Feltwell]

Not exactly a scientific comparison, but I can say that parking a Ford S-Max and an old BMW underneath a silver brich tree over the autumn causes an incredible build up of seeds in all kinds of crevices in the engine bay - far, far more than you might expect. Is it just airborn seeds blowing into gaps in the wall over the decades?