Claremont Homestead
Claremont Estate
| Client | FMG/Private Homeowner |
| Location | North Canterbury |
| Services | Insurance Assessment, Project Management |
| Value | $2 million |
Claremont Estate was originally constructed in 1866, from stone excavated from the site.
The 540m², Category 2 listed historic homestead offered a unique challenge - the construction, comprising traditional stone masonry in Claremont solid limestone block for the foundation and interior/exterior walls, falls outside of the standard New Zealand Building Code, requiring much ‘thinking outside the square’ for the project team.
Inovo commenced a comprehensive assessment in March 2017. Works began in February 2018 to repair the extensive damage sustained by the property in the 2016 Kaikoura earthquake sequence.
With maintaining the heritage features a high priority for all parties, it was obvious that repairing the damage using traditional techniques was the only option. This included slurry lime mortar injection into the stone wall cavities until the existing stone mortar on both side appeared damp, indicating that all of the voids in the cavity had been filled. A lime skim coat was then applied as a top coat to the walls.
The process results in very high moisture levels within the interior but it is essential that the lime is left to dry and acclimatise over a period of months, as it would have done during the original construction, to ensure that the existing materials do not ‘shock’, causing cracking and shrinkage to the lime walls, timber flooring, timber architraves and skirtings.
The wider remediation to the dwelling included re-roofing the original portion of the homestead and stripping out and re-tiling all of the bathrooms.
The repair works were completed over a 20 month period, an outstanding effort by the main contractor, Build Right Homes.