18th Century Sandstone Stables secured ready for conversion

Built in 1769, Cabinteely House, near Dublin in Ireland, is a large estate with extensive parkland, a museum and children’s play areas, all of which are open to the public. As part of a refurbishment of the main house for the owners, Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council, some original stables were to be converted into tearooms and required some delicate structural repairs to a cracked gable end.

The solid rubble-filled sandstone wall had extensive cracking caused by historic settlement and also required a window to be reinstated. The contract to restore integrity to this ancient structure was won by Helifix Approved Installer, Oldstone Ltd, who have considerable experience in repairing historic buildings and were able to offer a sympathetic concealed Helifix solution to the problem.

Mortar beds were channelled out in the stonework across the cracks and over 30 x 1m stainless steel HeliBars were bonded into the irregular shaped slots with HeliBond cementitious grout. The HeliBars, which reliably stitched the cracks and restored the stonework’s structural integrity, were also embedded deep enough to accommodate lime mortar re-pointing over the grout to maintain the aesthetic appearance of the old stables.

With the gable end secured and the window replaced, the stables could undergo their conversion into attractive tearooms for the many visitors to Cabinteely House.