Looe - Visual Structural Appraisal
Survey | Retaining Wall
Our clients property bordered a property with a retaining wall that had been served a dangerous structures notice. This resulted in the closure of the road so emergency works could be undertaken.
The retaining wall had to be temporarily supported while the emergency works were underway and the immediate area had to have restricted access to protect the public.
The retaining wall had to be taken down for a new, concrete retaining wall to be installed behind the original historic wall.
Our client wanted us to undertake a VSA of the equivalent wall at their property to ensure the same will not happen there.
Following the recent dangerous structures notice on the neighbouring retaining wall, our client instructed us to undertake a Visual Structural Appraisal of the equivalent retaining wall on their property.
It is unknown what period the houses were constructed in however it is suspected that it was early to mid 20th century.
The neighbouring retaining wall supported the stairs up to the front door.
The retaining wall supporting the steps to our clients front door was concerning due to missing mortar throughout the wall.
Of the exposed masonry it is clear that a traditional technique was used in their construction. The mortar used for all the retaining walls was a soft lime mortar which crumbled away easily in hand.
The same construction method has been used for the stair retaining walls as well as the main retaining walls supporting the properties.
The equivalent retaining wall at our clients property appeared to be missing a substantial amount of mortar across the length of the wall.
On closer inspection, it did not appear as though the wall was leaning, neither did it show any signs of previous movement.
The missing mortar was put down to environmental wear. Although we recommended that works be undertaken to repoint the entire of the stair retaining wall so as to ensure it’s structural stability.
The works being undertaken at the neighbours property were extensive and involved the demolition of the existing retaining wall. Following that a new concrete retaining wall was to be installed behind the original, this would then take the loading and support the ground and property behind.
The stones from the original retaining wall would be salvaged and then re-built in front of the new wall, they would only serve to be decorative but would retain the character of the two properties.
Following an inspection from distance, it was felt that the neighbouring works were far enough away from our clients property to not present an immediate risk t the stability or safety of our clients property.
We instructed our client to undertake continuous monitoring of the works and look out for any signs of cracking or structural movement of their property.
The neighbouring works involved the demolition of the existing retaining wall. Behind a new one could be installed and the original one rebuilt.
In conclusion, we determined that the stair retaining wall of our clients property was stable and did not pose any immediate risk of failure. In addition, we also felt that the works being undertaken at the neighbouring property did not present a serious issue in regards to stability of our clients property at the time of our visit.
We instructed our client to undertake continuous monitoring of the neighbouring works and to pay close attention for any signs of cracking or movement in their property. If cracks did begin to appear we advised our client to inform their neighbour and ask for all works to stop whilst a structural engineer undertake a site visit to determine a solution.
We always work to satisfy our clients, this project had tight time constraints due to the ongoing and continuous work at the neighbouring property. We had issued our findings and report along with our recommendations within a few days of undertaking the site visit. We will always do our utmost to work to a time scale that suits your needs. To find out how our services can benefit you, please get in touch with us for a discussion on the services we offer.