Should we be doing anything about this wonky beam?

[piapiapiano]

This house we've bought is full of mysteries. The latest one is this:

That's the first floor landing. The exposed bit of wall to the right of the door is not supporting that sloping beam. We're not sure what is, but presume it must be inside the wall of the adjoining bedroom. Also not sure how far over it goes on the left hand side. There's 3 feet of wall above it before the roof starts. The wooden blocks that are apparently wedged underneath it are, we think, not supporting it but merely providing something level to attach the plasterboard to.

Here's a close-up:

I have two theories:

1. At some point someone seems to have removed the inner skin of the stone wall -- presumably to make the landing bigger (but why would they do that? I'm guessing they moved the stairs further back, but again -- why would they do that?).

2. They wanted to put a door there to lead out onto the kitchen roof and couldn't find a lintel wide enough to support the entire wall, so they just removed half the depth of the wall and used to two separate lintels. You can see the second, smaller, slate lintel on the left in the close-up picture above.

The other mystery is the wall itself:

The lower half of the non-supporting section seems to be concrete blocks, with the original rubble stuck back on top. Why?

And should I be concerned that there's an empty void between the inner and outer walls?

 

[christianb]

Your inner wall (the one with the blocks) is almost certainly simply a later addition rather than them having removed any of the inner skin. And I wouldn't worry about the void too much.

See if they have put any tie-stones between the two skins. Otherwise, the inner bit will probably only be upright because of any weight borne upon it. In short, be careful.

C.

 

[Flyfisher]

Does the existing door open and close easily?
If the lintel wasn't adquately supported or starting to sag then the some of the weight of the walls above would be gradually transferred to the door frame and would quickly jam the door.

We have a door with a similarly precarious-looking lintel arrangement, but the door itself has been fine for years and my conclusion is that the wall and lintel are perfectly stable.

Conversely, we have a window that is bowing outwards, presumably because of a failed lintel allowing the weight of the above wall to bear down upon it. I haven't yet dared to expose the wall to really find out what's going on, but it's on the list of things to do.

 

[Penners]

I'm having trouble seeing where your concern lies. If the big, black beam isn't supported by the remaining "buttress" of stone wall, then surely it's supported by the wall just beyond this, into which it disappears - isn't it?

If you want to add some support at the top of the buttress, I would just mortar in some thin but strong material (slate or other stone?) that will fit the gap.

But broadly, I think this is one of those "if it ain't broke don't fix it" situations.

A theory as to why the wall was demolished and the door located further away from the stairs? The door and the stairs look quite modern, so perhaps it was to comply with building regs. There are rules about how deep the landing of a staircase must be, and how far away from the stairs any facing door must be. I can't remember the details of them, I'm afraid.

 

[piapiapiano]

christianb, the inner bit is wobbly and all the top stones are loose. We're being very careful with it!

Flyfisher, the door is very sticky and difficult to open -- but it looks like that's just because it's swelled up due to a leaking gutter immediately outside. The wonky beam isn't actually over the door at all. The door has its own sturdy slate lintel, which seems to be absolutely fine.

Penners, my concern basically lies in not having a clue about building construction. I'm very new to this malarkey, and finding a bizarrely sloping beam in the back wall of the house was a little alarming. I have no idea whether to be worried or nonchalant when I come across stuff like this, and I thought you lot here would be able to either alert me to trouble or reassure me that it was nothing to worry about.

 

[Penners]

I have no idea whether to be worried or nonchalant when I come across stuff like this, and I thought you lot here would be able to either alert me to trouble or reassure me that it was nothing to worry about.

Much as we would love to give you a definitive answer, the problem with "a wonky beam" is that it's almost impossible to divine, on the basis of a photo and a description, whether there's anything to worry about or not. But here are a few more thoughts:-

1. You mentioned that the masonry of inner wall is a bit wobbly. Are there any cracks around the outer skin in that area of wall that look fairly new? If not, then this is an indication (but not a guarantee!) that the outer skin is probably stable. Twin-skin stone walls quite often have two separate lintels to support the inner and outer skins, so that's not in itself surprising.

2. Have you checked the structure/thickness of the stone walls elsewhere in the house? Stone walls are often constructed by building two skins and filling the cavity between them with loose rubble. As christianb suggested above, I suspect the slightly odd structure around your door exists because the inner skin has been demolished. But you can help to confirm this is you look at the wall thickness elsewhere in the house. Is it the thickness of both the skins near this door, or just of the skin with the door in it?

3. Provided you find no sign of cracking in the outer skin, then if this were my wall, I would carefully take down all of the loose stonework in the inner buttress. Do this very carefully at first, and satisfy yourself that the lintel passes beyond the buttress into the adjacent wall and is well supported by it. Don't worry about its wonkiness, provided the timber looks sound and it's well supported. Assuming that it is, continue to take down any loose stonework in the buttress until you get to sound masonry. You can then rebuild the buttress (using lime mortar) and ensure that it's properly constructed right up to the bottom face of the lintel. While doing this, you might insert some ties between the inner and outer skins, to be on the safe side.