Structural alterations in N20 cover two very different building types. There are the large detached houses on Totteridge Lane with solid interwar and postwar structure, and there are the genuinely old village properties, some with lime mortar and timber lintels. GS Renovation works to an engineer's design on both, and takes each job through Barnet building control.
Working on Totteridge's older village fabric
The oldest properties around Totteridge Village were not built the way a 1930s house was built. Solid walls with no cavity, soft lime mortar, timber lintels over openings and floor joists built into the masonry rather than hung on hangers. Cutting a new opening in that fabric behaves differently: the load arches above the hole instead of dropping straight down, and hard cement pointing or a rigid modern padstone in the wrong place can crack the wall it is meant to support. The engineer specifies the detail; we build it.
Timber is the other recurring find. We regularly open floors in these houses and find joist ends decayed where they sit in a damp external wall, or a bressummer over an old fireplace opening that has been notched about by earlier trades. Replacement is straightforward once it is designed, using hangers and a wall plate so the new timber is no longer buried in masonry. What is not straightforward is guessing, so we open up and let the engineer look before anyone commits to a price for the repair.
Clay, mature trees and movement in N20
Totteridge sits on London Clay, and the plots carry some of the largest mature trees in the borough, many of them covered by tree preservation orders and all of the trees in the conservation area protected by the six weeks' notice requirement. Clay shrinks when a big oak or lime draws water out of it in a dry summer and swells again in winter. That cycle is the most common cause of the seasonal cracking we are called to look at in these houses, and it is not always subsidence.
So the sequence is diagnosis first. A structural engineer assesses the crack pattern, the foundation depth and the distance and species of the nearest tree before anyone talks about underpinning. Where genuine progressive movement is confirmed, we underpin in sequenced bays to the engineer's design, concreting one bay at a time so the wall above stays supported. It is notifiable to Barnet Council building control and inspected as the concrete goes in. Removing the tree instead is rarely the answer and often needs consent anyway.
- New door and window openings in solid masonry
- Steel beam and RSJ installation
- Wall plate, joist hanger and restraint strap installation
- Building control applications and completion certification
- Chimney breast removal and support to the stack above
Trusted Structural Alterations in Totteridge
The two failure modes on a Totteridge structural job are treating old village fabric as though it were modern cavity construction, and reaching for underpinning before anyone has understood the tree. GS Renovation avoids both by appointing the engineer first, opening up where needed, and building to the design. Barnet building control inspections are managed by us, and the founder brings 30+ years on this kind of fabric.
- Materials priced at options, so you choose the finish
- Existing structure protected and monitored as the engineer requires
- Waste cleared as we go, not left piled in the garden
- Straight advice on what is and is not worth spending money on
- Building control applications and inspections coordinated for you
- Trial holes dug to confirm what is under the building