A black car parked outside the converted barn needing property conservation
A black car parked outside the converted barn needing property conservation

Location: Abingdon, Oxfordshire

Type of property: Converted stone barn, overlaid with a tiled roof

Services used:

  • Free damp survey
  • Plastering
  • Carpentry
  • Exterior lime mortar pointing

Materials Used: 

  • Lime mortar
  • Storm-dry emulsion.

Problem:

During the survey, the external ground level was found to be approximately 500mm above the internal floor level at the ‘Study’, indicating lateral water ingress, exacerbated by defective drains and downpipes throughout the property.

Internally at the ‘Study’, discoloured plaster as symptomatic of moisture and hygroscopic ground salt deposits.

Externally, there were visible gaps and ‘hungry’ mortar beds noted, allowing rain penetration. Rain was also likely to be penetrating the fabric of the building through missing roof tiles and flashing above the ‘Study’.

Works completed: 

As a property conservation company, specialising in damp problems, we were not able to complete all the necessary work to make this building watertight. In this instance we recommended contacting a CCTV company to carry out a survey of the condition of the below ground drains.

We also recommended the client employed a roofing contractor to carry out close inspection of the lead flashing and roof tiles.

Our quotation included interior works to remove the salt contaminated plaster, and replace it with sand and cement waterproof plaster, and Natcem, before finishing with a smooth coat of plaster.

 

Work completed:

Right-gable wall – exterior

  1. Removed all lime pointing below the wood shuttering of the right-gable elevation taken up to the garden wall
  2. Cleaned the stonework/concrete plinth and repointed all areas with a hydraulic lime mortar
  3. Applied 2x coats of storm-dry masonry emulsion.

Before

During

After

Property Conservation Services Treatments