We Are Wigan Builders

Structural works are a service that we get asked for at Wigan Builders fairly often because the structure of properties will naturally weaken, due to weather, being lived in and natural ageing of materials. However, it is very typical for us to get asked to perform these works in 4 situations:

The most common situation is when you’re either buying or selling a house and you are informed from a surveyor or structural engineer that a specific part of your structure needs work. Usually this is in the form of either knocking down a load-bearing wall or pillar while keeping the rest of the structure secure, and rebuilding it. Or in some cases, can be just a simple case of reinforcing the existing structure. This can happen because of age, damp, weather or any other number of reasons.

If you’re getting a renovation or conversion that needs construction, knocking through walls or anything that can affect the stability of your property, you will need a structural engineer in Wigan. This is because structural engineers are specially qualified to gauge and test the strength of any walls in the structure and make sure that they can keep the structure secure and steady through everyday use.

If you’ve had an emergency or disaster of some kind that may have affected the structure of your property by damaging walls or foundations. Flooding and wind damage are common  examples in England, especially near coast lines. Structural works will rebuild any walls, foundations or structures that need it, as well as test them to make sure they can keep your structure sturdy and steady.

Finally, if your construction company is building a new property and wants to outsource the structural works to us then we are more than happy to take on the project for you! We have a reputation for being efficient, professional and experienced at meeting deadlines and working with other companies on projects.

While most companies don’t take on structural work for whatever reason, we can assure you that we can work with steel, concrete, wood and any other structural materials that are used in the industry today with proficiency and skill. We can source the materials for great prices due to our reputation and relationships we’ve built with suppliers over the years, we can break down and rebuild parts of a structure quickly and with very little fuss and we always make sure to check back at a later date to make sure that you’re happy with the finished product!

Due to the nature of structural works, and the range of works we can take on, it’s very difficult to give an approximate timeline for works, however there are a few general rules of thumb to go by if you require structural works from us.

Size and scope of the project. Of course if you only need a single wall reinforcing while a renovation takes place, then this will take a comparatively short amount of time. If you’re planning a new build and need foundations, walls, load-bearing structures and the like in your home, then you can expect something in the range of months as opposed to weeks!

Materials matter. If you just require wooden walls for a shed or outhouse in your garden, then the project won’t take very long at all as it just becomes a case of cutting and shaping the wood required, then securing it into place where needed. Concrete is usually the next fastest material to work with due to it being readily available to builders in Wigan from merchants companies. It just needs temporary wooden structures placed to hold it while it sets and dries, then once poured on site, it’s just a case of waiting 48 hours for it to set (though in industrial cases this will be 28 days to allow it to fully set and dry) and removing the temporary wooden structures. Finally, metal such as iron and steel can take longer because the metal will need to be heated and moulded into the right shape off-site from the merchants we use, then once on site, we will have to cut through where needed and bolt and secure into place for whichever purpose it is intended for.

If it’s a standalone project or part of a larger project. One of the things that we take into account when planning and quoting for a job is the amount of labour we’ll need and time taken away from other projects for prep work on the one we’re quoting. This means that if we are performing a garage conversion or the like in your home and we find out that you need a load-bearing wall to be reinforced or are performing a loft conversion and have found problems with the wood in your existing roofing structure, then of course that will have a much shorter turn-around time than if we were just on site solely for the structural work. This is because we will already be on site working on other things and can perform other jobs while waiting for materials to be delivered, placed on site, waiting to set etc. and make much more efficient use of our time!

Structural work in residential properties normally fits into the following types:

Foundation work - Laying down foundations for new structures, such as extensions, basement conversions and new builds to keep them standing and steady. At the same time, we also perform foundation repair and reinforcement when there is underlying damage or decay to structures due to freak weather occurrences and natural disasters, wear and age over time or accidents. This can also be known as underpinning, and is usually required when changing the floor level of a basement conversion.

Wall work - This will involve work done to the walls of a structure. This includes work on load-bearing walls, such as reinforcing or repairing them from damage, or at other times, removing them entirely in a way that keeps the structure intact and shifts the load elsewhere in the structure. It can also involve work on free-standing walls that don’t support and hold the structure’s load which is much easier to do work on. Finally, it also includes any work done to the outside walls of a property, such as creating new walls for an extension, or even walling for gardens.

Propping work - Another popular form of structural works is propping. This is where if a property is severely damaged, or we are performing structure changing works to it, we will prop the structure up using temporary, external and internal props. These will quite literally hold the structure up while the construction works take place.

Roofing work - Finally, if we are creating a new build, then we will also create the supporting structure a roof requires to hold itself up. We can also reinforce a roof during a loft conversion to keep it from falling, or even adapt and modify it to fit your new loft conversion if it needs to go through the supports such as in the case of a dormer or hip to gable conversion.

If you need any kind of structural work in Wigan that isn’t included in this list, then please don’t hesitate to contact us anyway as we have experience with every type of construction and building work out there during the decades of service we’ve provided in Wigan and the north-west!