Graham Jones wrote:
On 16/07/2010 16:55, Phil L wrote:
Phil L wrote:


This said, it was shoddy practice for a short while in the 60's to
just build the external soldiers direclty on top of the frame, there
was a housebuilder called calderbank& fairhurst who built several
estates like this, needless to say they went out of buisness.

just read your other post about cracks etc and noticed that the
house is 45 years old? not a good sign considering it was mid 60's
that these cowboys were operating...start ****ting bricks if any of
the roads on your estate contain the words 'calder', 'fair', 'hurst'
or 'bank', they usually named the roads after themselves or at least
parts of their names were often used. Even saying that, there were other
housebuilders around at the time
who flung up these monstrosities, have a look around at neighbouring
houses, have they had brickwork replaced above the downstairs front
window? - usually in a triangle shape.



Yes it was built mid 60's, I think it was a Wimpey house. There was
only one place I could fit a screwdriver between frame and brick, all
6" of the blade disappeared. I am pretty sure the bricks are right on
the frame as levering the screwdriver up and down moves the bricks and
causes the frame to creak.

have a look around at neighbouring houses, have they had brickwork
replaced above the downstairs front window?

This is interesting as nearly all similar houses on the estate have
had some pointing in a triangular shape above the downstairs front
window. In fact it was mentioned in the surveyors report when we
bought the house. This seems OK though as it has not changed in the
10 years we have been here.

Now the bricks have only moved dropped by at most 3mm, so this is
either after 45 years or after 9 years of the window replaced. So I
am guessing it is not a huge problem.

But the bricks are unsupported, so what are my options?


You don't really have any! - there are no lintels in your house, you've just
verified this by mentioning the neighbour's triangular pointing etc.
If the windows are only 9 years old and they are adequateoly holding
everything up, then just leave it as it is, other than that it means
removing each window frame, at least all the downstairs ones, installing
lintels and then putting the frames back in, if they fit.

The bricks are supported, they're supported by the frame, and the frames
will contain metal, I wouldn't ponder too long on this otherwise you may
require another mortgage


--
Phil L
RSRL Tipster Of The Year 2008