Bay Window Repair

What causes

There are several reasons that cracking around bay windows occurs, and this is often due to their original construction.

Bay windows were very popular in Georgian, Edwardian and Victorian houses, and building of the bay was often left until late on in the construction process so that the opening could be used for access.

Georgian properties tended to be built to a high standard with good quality materials, on foundations dug down to solid ground. However, Victorian properties were built faster, with cheaper materials, and the foundations were not always dug deep enough. Because the bay was often built late on, they were sometimes built on separate and less adequate foundations to the rest of the building and were not adequately tied in. This can lead to differential movement where the bay moves, but the rest of the building doesn’t.

This is particularly a problem in areas such as London, where the properties were built on clay soil. Clay soils are more vulnerable to subsidence because the soil shrinks when it is dry. Heave is also a problem because clay soils expand when they are wet.

Method of

Twin bands of helical bar are bonded into predetermined slots cut into the bed joints around the bay above and below the window, with the ends embedded in the front elevation. Lateral Restraint ‘Bow Ties’ are then driven into the joist ends via pilot holes in the masonry and low-level cracks are stitched with single helical bar crack stitches.

Colour-matched pointing mortar is then used to match with the existing mortar to provide as near an invisible repair as possible.