Like many old buildings, this central St Andrews property had suffered from minor yet long-standing damp ingress through a roof valley gutter. Slight damp staining to the wall plaster below and raised moisture meter readings led to our recommendations necessitating localised plaster and lath removals to expose concealed structural timbers.
Whilst the face of the timber safe lintel appeared sound and free from defect we, as experienced specialists, opted to investigate further. We insisted that the masonry adjacent to the lintel be removed and our suspicions were justified. The lintels are now removed and replaced in pre-stressed concrete.
An inexperienced eye may well have left the lintels in situ and, under the assumption that the roof valley repairs by a previous company would have dealt with the problem, this relatively localised wet rot situation could in fact have easily resulted in a large-scale dry rot attack. Not so!
