On Tue, 1 Feb 2005 19:25:44 -0000, Peter Scott wrote:

"Nick" wrote in message
...
A happy new year to one and all.

I recently inherited my late fathers house. Late Tudor farmhouse and a big
old barn of a place (no pun intended). Listed G2. Timber framed, brick
infill to the ground floor, wattle/daub or similar to the 1st floor, peg
tiled roof. The exterior is rendered & painted, timbers are exposed
throughout. All timbers appear to be oak and in good condition mainly.
Over the last few days I've had the chance to have a good look around and
what I see dismays me greatly.
The wiring, plumbing & ch have all been completely renewed in the last 10
years and there are no known problems with these.
However, I can't find any other aspect of the old place that does not need
major attention.
Most of the problems I know how to deal with, but one in particular needs
professional advice I feel.
The main rooms on the ground floor are about 25ft square. The ceilings are
supported by 12" x 12" beams in a + arrangement. The cross is central to
each room and formed by a single timber span with the 2 'arms' double
morticed/tenoned to that single span. Joists of 9"x6" are morticed/tenoned
to the 2 arms at about 18" centres. A very substantial structure.
In one room only the single span is bowed downwards by about 3" and this
is
immediately noticeable. Equally worrying is that the tenons of the 'arms'
have pulled out by at least an inch on each side. I presume this is a
result of the main timber bowing. As you might imagine this worries me
greatly as a failure of these timbers could be catastrophic. To the best
of
my knowledge this problem has arisen quite recently, certainly within the
last 20 years.
I could jack up the ceiling beams and put a 12x12 oak prop beneath the
centre of the cross. This would effectively destroy the appearance of a
lovely room.
I would be more inclined to jack the structure up beyond level and then
secure the 2 arms together using a substantial metal strap or straps.
I'm worried about what effects any jacking operation might have upon other
parts of the structure.
Thus I feel expert advice is needed.
Anyone know where I can ask for such advice please?

Many thanks

Nick.

I wonder if the CH installed a decade ago has been slowly drying out and
shrinking the
timbers. This is obviously a lovely and valuable house. I think you should
employ a structural engineer to investigate the problem for you. He/she can
also be used to supervise any work that you have done. They charge about 3
to 6 %
of the contract price, perhaps more for smaller projects.

Hugh Lander's book The House Restorer's Guide is food for thought. It helps
newbies (and I was one) not to ruin and devalue fine old houses. Published
by
David and Charles ISBN 0 7153 8386 8

Good luck. Its worth it to live in a fine house.

Peter Scott

Your time setting on the PC are way off. You're showing the first of
February already. :-)