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Renovations in Mill Hill

Every trade under one contract across Mill Hill and NW7. Structural work, extensions, kitchens and bathrooms, building control handled for you.

Mill Hill is really two places to build in. Around Mill Hill Broadway the housing is interwar semis and later development on level ground, while up towards Mill Hill Village and Arrandene Open Space the plots are larger, the houses are substantial and the ground falls away. Your brief produces different work in each, particularly where levels are involved. We survey the property rather than the postcode, appoints the structural engineer for anything carrying load, and handles the Barnet Council building control application and inspections.

Broadway and Village Are Different Jobs

Nearer the Broadway the stock is consistent interwar and post war housing: bay fronted reception rooms, a separate kitchen at the back, cavity walls and frequently a garage. The work is usually a through opening, a kitchen opened into the rear room, or a garage brought into the house, and the structure is predictable.

Towards the Village the houses are larger, older and less uniform, and the brief is more often a full refurbishment or a significant alteration. What is behind the plaster varies from house to house, so the survey and the engineer's investigation matter more than any assumption drawn from a neighbouring property.

Sloping Plots and Retained Ground

Where the ground falls, floors step with it. A house on a slope may have a lower ground floor buried at the front and open at the rear, and a wall being removed internally can be retaining ground as well as carrying floor. The engineer establishes which before an opening is designed.

Retaining structures are a different design problem from ordinary walls, because they resist lateral pressure that rises when the ground is saturated. Bulging, leaning or cracking in a retaining wall means it is failing. Rebuilding one properly involves drainage behind it and a designed foundation rather than relaying the brickwork.

Coordinating a Larger Refurbishment

On the bigger houses the value to you of a single contractor is sequencing. Structure and first fix run across the property, then plastering, then second fix and decoration, so your services are isolated once rather than repeatedly and finished areas are not revisited.

Consents, party wall awards where a shared wall is affected and long lead items each have their own timetable and are started when the scope is agreed. GS Renovation appoints and coordinates the structural engineer and builds to the design issued, and does not produce calculations itself.

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What We Renovate in Mill Hill

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Renovations Near Mill Hill

FAQ

Renovating in Mill Hill, common questions

Is the internal wall retaining ground in a sloping Mill Hill house?

Sometimes, and it changes the design entirely. Where a house is built into a slope, a wall at lower ground level can be holding back soil as well as carrying the floor above. The engineer establishes what it is doing before any opening is designed, because a retaining wall resists pressure an internal wall never sees.

What suits an interwar house near Mill Hill Broadway?

Opening the kitchen into the rear reception room, most often, or the through opening between the two front rooms. Both are structural, because the wall generally carries the floor above and sometimes a partition upstairs. A beam designed for what is actually standing on it replaces the wall and bears onto padstones at each side.

Why is the garden retaining wall cracking?

Because it is holding back ground and that pressure rises when the soil is saturated. Bulging, leaning or stepped cracking means the wall is failing rather than weathering. Rebuilding it involves drainage behind the structure and a foundation designed for the retained load, not simply relaying the bricks that have moved.

Who produces the structural calculations?

A structural engineer appointed for the job. GS Renovation is a contractor and never produces calculations or presents an opinion as a structural assessment. The engineer sizes any beam, post or foundation, the design goes to building control, and the work is built to it and inspected against it on site.

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Reviews

Rated 4.9 / 5 by our clients

★★★★★ 4.9 average from 31 verified reviews on MyBuilder

★★★★★
Punctual, worked hard, and did exactly what he was asked and what he said he would do. Overall, a very high quality job. Will use again.
nicholas40451Hertford · via MyBuilder
★★★★★
Very friendly and I am very pleased with the work he has done, also very clean worker and enthusiastic about his work. Can not fault this company!!!! Very very good for the money.
natalie89391Stevenage · via MyBuilder
★★★★★
He was very very good. He just got on with the job and we was beey pleased with the result. He Also cleaned everything away when he finished. Will deffinatly hire him again.
desiree14189Harlow · via MyBuilder
Read all 31 reviews

Written and reviewed by Abdelaaziz Saaid, founder of GS Renovation Ltd, who has spent more than 30 years on the tools and on site in London homes. Structural design is specified by the consulting engineer appointed to your project.

Planning a Renovation in Mill Hill?

Free, no-obligation quote for any renovation work in Mill Hill. Rated 4.9 from 31 reviews on MyBuilder, fully insured, and building control handled for you.

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