I enjoyed the company of Hudson Lambert and Robert Deary for a day of wall tie surveying in Leeds last week.
Hudson is Managing Director of Safeguard Europe, who are a leading manufacturer, developer and distributor of waterproofing and preservation products. Robert Deary is his Northern Area sales manager.
I’ve done good business with Safeguard for many years and I admire them very much; a good, responsible and talented bunch from top to bottom. They have branched into wall ties and structural repair and I was delighted to show them how we do things in my Wall tie company Brick-Tie Limited.
We visited some domestic wall tie surveys, to let the guys get a feeling for the variable nature of wall ties surveying; types of housing, insulated and none-insulated property and the use of boroscopes and endoscopic photography.
We talked about Building Research Establishment Digest 329 and 401 ‘installing remedial wall ties’ and various remedial options were discussed, including mechanical, resin bonded and dryfix type wall tie types. Having run an active wall tie company for over 25 years I have a lot to say about site testing and quality control and we shared views on this and how it can be improved.
The rain was heavy in Yorkshire that day and I’m afraid Hudson and Bob got soaked. I love showing anyone round my offices and unit and I could see Hudson eyeing the rows of his Safeguard products on our shelves awaiting use. We are using a tonne of Vandex cementitiouse waterproofing and I was able to give Hudson great feedback also, on their new Rendermix pre-bagged sand/cement for use after DPC insertion. One of our qualified damp proofing technicians; Ryan Shann was using it only the other day and said “It’s absolutely fantastic”… can’t get better than that from a site technician – they don’t mince their words.
Julie and I were able to treat them to a nice Italian meal and few beers in Leeds later, so I think they went home happy.
Visiting us, travelling all the way from Horsham, to see how things are done on site was thought important enough, for these guys to take time out. It’s one of the things I’ve come to expect from Safeguard, having visited their HQ last year and seen their dedication up close.
The new BrickFix range of wall tie and crack stitching materials is flying off their shelves and I’m not surprised; they deserve to prosper and I’ll be continuing to support them as a crucial supplier and central to helping deliver a great service for my customers. Hudson has just been elected to the board of management of the Property Care Association and I expect that he’ll be a great help in further advancement of the PCA and it’s 300 plus members.
Dry Rot.