A problem with a bulging bay window was delaying the refurbishment of a home in Richmond in West London. During redecoration work, the painter had noticed the bay was sagging and leaning towards the street and urged the homeowner to seek advice from a local London Chartered Structural Engineer.
SERL’s structural reporting service
After a quick Google search for a local, independent Structural Engineering firm, the homeowner contacted SERL, impressed by our reputation for providing a prompt, responsive service, and knowledge of West London residential properties.
In response to the client’s requirements our qualified Chartered Structural Engineer recommended a Specific Structural Inspection report.
SERL offers two types of structural reports:
1) A localised, specific, and limited Specific Structural Inspection (SSI) report or a Structural Engineers Defect Report.
2) A broader General Structural Inspection Report (GSI) or Structural Engineers General Movement Report which focuses only on matters of cracking and movement.
Our Structural Engineer visited the property in Richmond the following day to inspect the bay window and diagnose the problem and put our client’s mind at rest.
We found that the brick pillars to the outer edge of the bay window had bulged outwards by about 20mm to 30mm over the lifetime of the London property.
Part of this movement had occurred since the installation of some replacement windows so was not necessarily historic. After further inspection inside and out we deduced that the movement was minor and not recent.
We presented our client with two options. The first option was to support the bay and rebuild the pillars, which would provide long-term peace of mind.
The second, much cheaper option, was to simply repair the cracks, with the hope that there would be no further movement of the window. If cracks did reopen in the future rebuilding work would then have to be undertaken. The client decided on the second less expensive option for their home in south-west London.
Our formal written Structural Engineers Report was issued the next day with our recommendations for specialist repair contractors.