Defect Inspection

Our Instruction - To inspect and report on damp ingress.

The Property - Residential Apartments, built in 1990s.

The Location - Frinton-on-Sea, Essex.

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We were instructed by a property management company to advise them on long-standing damp ingress issues to residential apartments in Frinton-on-Sea, Essex. The building in question was mainly constructed in traditional block/brick cavity. However, the area in question was made up in a steel frame with timber framing and painted rendering forming the external walls to a projecting three storey bay window arrangement.

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Traditional inspection techniques were employed by us, but we also used thermography to great effect.

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With our additional background and training in technical architectural design, we were able to identify a significant build issue which was highly likely to be causing the damp issues noted. Timber frame buildings require a ventilated void behind the external finish, which in this case was painted render. It was not present, and the back face of the rendering was noted by us as touching the now, and not unsurprisingly, missing plywood sheathing.

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We were able to advise and recommend remedial works to our client, which unfortunately, required a strip back to the frame and thereafter the correct build-up of the external wall, incorporating a ventilated cavity. We also advised that any new render system should not be a hard/brittle cement-based one, but a flexible propriety render system.

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The images below are only a small selection of those within our completed report.

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To view the slide show below, please click on either the left or right arrow, or just wait for the slides to change automatically.

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