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Inappropriate replacement windows blight old buildings. They are the home ‘improvement’ likely to cause most harm to a property’s value. However, it is a common misconception that old timber windows are incapable of being upgraded.
They’re small, furry and firmly part of traditional British fauna. The masonry bee is an opportunist loner with a taste for old walls.
The type of mortar that someone proposes for repointing joints in the walls of an old building is a good test of whether they should be working on such buildings at all. Douglas Kent, the SPAB Technical and Research Director, explains why - and what you do if an inappropriate cement mortar has been used.
The inappropriate installation of damp-proof courses to combat rising dampness accounts for much unnecessary work on old buildings. True rising damp is rarer than commonly perceived but is regularly misdiagnosed.