Hello all,
I've now received the report from Greig Adams of DM Hall following his 3 hour inspection on 3rd November 2011, and have his permission to share it with you on this blog, so you can read it here.
It does take a bit of reading, and of course there have to be caveats as there is clearly a limit as to what can be seen from hanging out a window or prodding the roof....! What this does give us, though, is a much better insight as to:
- what may have been causing the water ingress problems over the years;
- what needs to be dealt with imminently;
- and what we need to be aware of/budget for within the next 5 - 10 years.
My interpretation of the report and recommendations is that the greatest prioity is the re-rendering of the chimney stacks (mutual ones to Montgomery Street, especially) as these are in very poor condition. Despite the challenge of dealing with all of their owners as well as ourselves, we will have to address this in the short to medium term. Although this is not really new to us, the extent of deterioration to the stone is probably a bit worse than I think we'd been aware of, and so we must be prepared for what may be uncovered when the preparation work for the re-rendering actually takes place.
I was certainly rather alarmed to witness just how easily a substantial chunk of stone came away with barely a touch from my kitchen window area which I'd always thought looked just fine! I do now have a greater appreciation for why it is so hard to assess the condition until you get up close.
Anyway, please read the report and let me have your comments or thoughts.
This is going to need more careful consideration as to how we move forward from here, and I suspect we may need to aim to hold a meeting and/then engage professional services to help us.
I'll see if we can get a date in within the next few weeks to maintain momentum.
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For clarity, it is my understanding that Greig's references to the chimney stacks correlate to our labels like this:
West Mutual Chimneys (i.e. the ones we share with our Montgomery Street neighbours)
- South West Mutual = the one we have labelled G,
- North West Mutual = the one we have labelled H,
Chimney Stacks to Montgomery Street = the ones labelled E&F,
Chimney Stacks to Brunswick Street = the ones labelled C&D,
North Mutual Chimneys (i.e. the ones we share with our Brunswick Street neighbours)
- North West = the one labelled A,
- North East = the one labelled B.
I hope that helps it all make sense. I look forward to hearing from you.
Thanks,
Catriona (3F2)
