Renovations in Beckenham

Beckenham does not have a single housing type, and pricing work here starts by settling which of two you own. On one side there are Edwardian villas with solid brick walls, wide halls and heavy timber floors, of the kind found in the older streets near Kelsey Park. On the other there are interwar semis built with cavity walls, hipped roofs and remarkably regular spans, laid out in the estates that spread towards Beckenham Place Park. The two need different methods for the same job. GS Renovation covers BR3 as a visiting contractor, fully insured, with free no-obligation quotations.

Two building eras, two ways of working

An Edwardian villa is solid masonry, usually a brick and a half thick, with suspended timber floors, lath and plaster and a cut roof carried on purlins. There is no cavity to protect and no wall ties to worry about, but the brick is softer than modern work and the bearings for any new beam have to be exposed and inspected rather than assumed sound. Where the load is heavy, needling through to firm masonry comes before the opening is cut. The engineer we appoint specifies the padstone and the bearing length, and we build precisely to it.

An interwar semi is a different animal. Two leaves of brick with a cavity between them, tied together, sometimes with insulation retrofitted into that gap, and lintels of concrete or steel already over the openings. Cutting into it correctly means closing the cavity at the new reveal, installing a cavity tray and weeps where water can now track across, and reinstating any insulation that has been disturbed. Skip that and you get a damp patch on the inside face a winter later, which is far more expensive to chase than it would have been to detail properly.

What we look for before quoting in BR3

A survey here is a list of specific checks rather than a walk round. In the interwar stock we look at wall tie condition, whether the bay has a proper lintel or is relying on a timber one, and whether the hip has spread where a previous owner took out roof timbers for storage. In the older villas we look at the state of the bearings, the direction the joists run, past openings formed without support, and the condition of the plaster where movement has been decorated over. Everything we find is photographed and given to the engineer.

The process from there is deliberately unglamorous. A structural engineer designs any beam and its bearings, we prop on spread sole plates, cut in stages and transfer the load before striking anything, and building control applications and inspections are coordinated with Bromley Council. On a semi, the beam frequently bears into the wall shared with next door, which brings the Party Wall etc. Act 1996 into play, and the duty to serve notice is yours as the building owner. Installations we carry out are covered by a five year guarantee.

Where most Beckenham projects start: whole-house refurbishment in Beckenham, everything we cover across Bromley, renovations in Orpington, renovations in Chislehurst and full house renovation cost.