Few shots from one of our Worcestershire teams’ previous projects; a sorry old elm timber frame which unfortunately needed a lot of replacement, we managed to salvage a couple timbers which the architect’s spec thought were a write off.

The framing here tells us a story of a couple of phases of construction throughout the last 3-400years. The original gable frame being much lower than the current arrangement. At some point the roof was raised to accommodate a second floor, often when this happens the historical carpenters would leave the original wall framing intact and build up off the existing wall plate with short studs and another wall plate, in this instance they went to the effort of re-build the wall with full length studs, except for the cross frame/bay posts which had short and crude extensions of the original post. Unfortunately, this arrangement hadn’t done too well and also involved removing parts of the tie beam. For structural reasons, we chose to go with a full-length, solid bay post, picking up the old tie and extending to pick up the higher wall plate rather than replicating the bodgey detail which existed previously. Shout out to the framers on site, lots of hard points to hit with those bay posts, 1 measurement or angle off and it all goes to pot.

Elm frames are unfortunately nowhere near as resilient as their oak counterparts, so when those incompatible modern materials have been used they really do end up being the nails in the coffin for large sections of the frame. If you have an elm frame, please look after it!

We had our work cut out on this one! Resin/rod repairs given Listed Building Consent 9 years ago have absolutely decimated the surrounding timber by trapping moisture and accelerating decay.

In some conservation circles, the use of resin repairs is considered suitable as the theory is shuttered resin will retain more historic fabric… Unfortunately, the use of these resins has caused further decay and resulted in the loss of much more historic fabric than timber repairs would have. In some cases the resin has caused such advanced decay to the point of complete structural failure, several timbers now required replacement. Had timber repairs been carried out 9 years ago, the repaired historic timbers would likely carry on for another 200 years. Absolutely heart-breaking work.

If ever there was a case for the fight against the use of resin on timbers, this is it.

Part of the many repairs to this 400 year old frame in Worcester was the dismantling, repairing and rebuilding of the truss, which went back in absolutely beautifully! Not a simple task taking apart a 400 year old frame and reframing it so that it hits 7 fixed points (remaining in-situ purlins, ridge, wall plates) with mm accuracy- and the perfect amount out of plumb! Just goes to show what can be achieved with an accurate survey. Hats off to team Worcester on this one, was certainly not a simple or easy task dealing with that nasty resin and the extent of decay it had caused!