Emergency Ceiling Repair – Cromer, Norfolk

The work requested

What do you do when parts of an old integral brick oven fall through the ceiling of your busy Estate Agent offices? You Call SAB Group!

Our client asked us to respond quickly to debris which had suddenly fallen through the suspended ceiling. Once onsite, we began to conduct an inspection so removed some additional ceiling tiles and found an old brick oven which would have previously been on the first floor! The first floor itself was removed many years before, but this small oven had been left in place.

How we Approached the work

Safety was our first concern, so the office was closed and a risk assessment was quickly carried out. A plan was then formulated and agreed with the client.
Removal of the old oven would have been dangerous and created a significant amount of dust and dirt. The priority, therefore, was to make the oven safe, ensuring nothing else could ever fall in the future.

Mild steel ‘L’ angles were bolted into the wall and anchored with resin; a sturdy shelf was then fixed into place.

Short timber studs were fixed to the new shelf; these provided the support to the underside of the oven.

Once the support was completed underneath, a front cover was created to secure across the full breath of the oven, again secured using bolts that were resin fixed into the wall. The hazard was now safely ‘boxed’ away.

The final stage was to repair and replace the ceiling grid, and add new tiles as required. The office was then deep cleaned and ready to return to full operation.

The final stage was to repair and replace the ceiling grid, and add new tiles as required. The office was then deep cleaned and ready to return to full operation.

The Challenges of this repair

Undertaking this project in an operational care home presented a few challenges for the team, these included:

• Completing the work as quickly as possible whilst prioritising safety and minimising disruption. Clear communication with the staff onsite allowed us to clear the area and make the necessary repairs within only limited restrictions for the office staf
  
• Working at height – inside a building with a lowered ceiling. We needed to take the right amount of time to prepare a safe working space without causing damage to the rest of the ceiling structure.