Installation of Helibeams (50metres installed)
Timeframe: 1 week, 4 Technicians, January 2024.
Cost: ~£17,000 inc VAT
Materials: HeliBeam, DryFix Ties, Helibars and cementitious grout, pointing, all external work.
We were contacted by the homeowners for reinforcement of their external walls prior to new windows being installed. A common problem we see is where houses were built with solid wooden window frames that formed an integral part of the building and formed the lintel upon which the bricks above were laid. In more recent times, these wooden windows have been removed and replaced with uPVC. While these may have benefits for insulation, an issue we see repeatedly is that they are not strong enough – and are usually thinner, too – to support the brickwork above that then drops onto the uPVC frame. In extreme cases this can crack the glass or prevent the windows from being opened, but often it creates a weak spot in the wall above the windows. in this case all of them.
The HeliBeam System
Following a site survey to ascertain what was required, we specified the HeliBeam System as the most appropriate repair. There was an existing scaffold at the property that had been used for other work and we were going to use this and ask the company to adjust it for our purposes. Surprisingly, they said they couldn’t do that and needed it back immediately for another job. We put the customer in touch with DRS Scaffolding who came up and left a scaffold appropriate to work on and there was no time limit for how long we had it. This is normal practice in my experience. usually, we provide and pay for all scaffolding and access but in this case the customer paid so scaffolding costs aren’t included in the price shown.
The Process – Tried and Tested Methodology
On the pictures below you can see one area of work. The darkened area is a previous repair using silicone and shows the area of stepped brickwork where it had dropped onto the window that was unable to support the weight. The reinforcing HeliBeam was installed above the soldier (vertical bricks) course, and further beams were added above to create a ‘beam zone’, a strengthened sectioned taking the weight away from the window. The current windows were to be replaced after our work. This made the repairs essential as without them removing the old windows could have allowed the weakened section to drop right out! Not only is that dangerous, it would take considerable time and cost to rebuild. This being done during January it’s not an ideal time to lose large sections of your external wall. The soldier course was vertically ‘pinned’ using DryFix ties to prevent them from dropping further and creating a complete restrained solution for that area.
The work was done a great standard by the installation team that was lead by Will. While he’s more involved in the day to day operations now and there’s our production Leader, Ash, in position that organises and runs jobs like this. We had some slight delays on this job where the temperatures were so low it would have affected the curing of the Helibond and not given us the required fixing. We worked around it by organising the times we worked and got it done. All this came with a 10 year warranty from Helifix like most of our work. We also added some reinforcement to a retaining wall that formed an off street parking area.
Why not get in touch?
If this is something you’re having issues with, we’d love to hear from you, Whether you’re just thinking about it, or ready to pull the trigger. You can get in touch and we can have a chat with you and see if we can help.
