Renovation to Victorian Mansion

A fantastic and imposing Victorian mansion house has recently been restored to full structural and aesthetic integrity with the use of Twistfix brick reinforcement products. The five-storey property just off London's famous Baker Street has been converted into luxury apartments and is now a highly-desirable address.

The Victorian building was constructed in the late 1830s and had been sadly neglected, falling into an advanced state of disrepair. When diagonal cracks, broken bricks and bowing masonry became evident, Twistfix contractor Newman Building Solutions were asked to investigate with a survey to determine the cause and offer a remedial solution.

The results of the comprehensive survey carried out by Newmans showed that a severe lack of any lateral restraint had led to masonry bowing at both ceiling and floor level. Also, brick arch lintel failure had occurred at window heads. More surprising was the discovery that the external masonry, believed to be 13” solid wall, was actually only 9” with a single-skin, collar jointed façade that had completely separated from the structural brickwork.

As part of the brief given by the main structural engineer overseeing the project, Newman Building Solutions had to design a remedial solution that would repair the problems while causing an absolute minimum of disruption to the aesthetics of the striking building. By creating strong masonry beams with the use of Twistfix helical rods, bed-joint reinforcements and stainless steel ties, the contractors were easily able to provide an effective brick reinforcement solution without the need for an expensive remove-and-rebuild technique.

Other problems with this Victorian manor, which is a typical example of London's prestige buildings, included damaged sills, chipped decorative features and cracked brickwork. These were repaired with matching mortars to disguise and complete the structural reinforcement work, all of which was carried out in less than two weeks and has left no trace. Once again, we are proud to supply products to our network of first class registered contractors in order to facilitate their essential work.

For more information on the range of masonry repair products available from Twistfix, please contact 0845 123 6006 or send email to sales@twistfix.co.uk.