The owners of an old timber-framed property had complained of a leak travelling down through the four storey building and into the shop below.
Inspections within the main building revealed various bowls and buckets had been placed in several locations, each containing large amounts of water.
The uneven timber floors had staining outlining the path through which the water had travelled before the bowls and buckets were placed. Not just a trickle line but a path of more than 2m in length and 600mm wide in places – quite the stream one can imagine!.
Sections of 25mm thick, original lime-based plaster had become delaminated from timber framed walls and ceilings had loose patches that could simply be removed by hand or even a mere prod! The main structural timbers in behind were seen to be darkened and saturated, looking very sorry for themselves.
When entering the shop below, staining was clearly evident on the suspended ceiling and again, bowls of water were present in the front window. Not quite the display they were going for I’m sure.
Well what on earth could have caused such a leak in a building that was occupied only weeks before? There was a need to break out the high level camera inspection equipment for further investigation.
………and there it was. A seagull chick in its nest built over the roof of a bay window. This had caused blockages to a gulley, greatly restricting the normal flow of rainwater away to a downpipe.
It was lovely to see the chick with its family supporting and feeding it. They however, were not so impressed, something they expressed by way of ‘dive-bombing’ myself and my equipment. Time to head back inside and call an avian control specialist!
As always with rainwater ingress issues on a timber-framed building, there was a need for further respectful and careful inspection whereupon timber infestation and decay was observed along with a need for much plaster repair, all in-line with the needs of a traditional building and to the listed buildings officers specifications.
Who’d have thought that so much damage could be caused by a cute seagull and its nest?
By the way, cute was not a term the owners used!
