Customer Stories

Stabilising stone and flint dormer window

Stabilizing stone and flint dormer window at King’s School, Canterbury – diamond drilling for, and installing, grouted ties

King’s School is possibly the oldest school in England, believed to have been established over 400 years ago. AWT were engaged to undertake remedial works to stabilise a stone and flint fronted gable dormer window of this substantial, historic school building. We used lateral restraints and grout ties to remedy the problem and offer an effective repair solution.

Problem – movement and rotation of gable masonry

• The dormer gable masonry was of stone window mullions and copping stones with a flint infill backed with brickwork.

• The dormer gable masonry had suffered from significant outward movement, leaving a gap between the flashings and the dormer roof.

• The masonry appeared to be rotating outwards on the joints to the stone window mullions.

• No fixings to the masonry and the roof structure were noted.

Discussion

From our findings it was apparent that the building had suffered from movement over a period of time. It was deemed that this movement was progressive, due to current ineffective and/or inadequate restraining.

The Repair Solution – Lateral Restraints

AWT completed a remedial scheme providing a viable repair, through the introduction of lateral restraints and grout ties to reconnect the substance of the wall and restrain the same.

• Grout ties: To connect the substance of the masonry stone and flint of the gable wall, AWT installed remedial grout ties by drilling for, and injecting, grouted 8mm helical bar – as indicated with green stars and parallel lines on our proposal plan images.

• Lateral restraints: In conjunction with the grout ties we installed stainless steel ties, screwed into the side grain of the timbers behind and resin bonded to the masonry – as indicated with yellow stars on our proposal plan images.

Action Wall Ties (AWT) are specialists in masonry reinforcement and repair including historic flint and stone walls, in Kent, Surrey, London and Sussex.

Our Lateral restraint solutions are permenant and effective, creating a better than new outcome.

We are successfully providing professional solutions to a wide variety of structural problems. Contact us on 01227 721 255, or email us.