Update on Moseley Road baths – 4^th March 2011

I attended a pre-contract meeting this morning to discuss the forthcoming work on Moseley Road baths. The objective of the works is to replace the lintel on the fire exit of Pool 2, which will allow the pool to re-open to the public.

Background to the pools temporary closure can be read at http://martinmullaney.blogspot.com/2011/01/update-on-moseley-road-baths-14-th.html

The outcome of this mornings meeting is that the contractors will move onto the site on Monday 21^st March. The work will take between 6 to 9 weeks depending on the complexity of the issues discovered when the current rotten lintel is removed. So at worst, the pool will re-open to public around 23^rd May.

The first three weeks of the works will involve constructing a steel frame to hold up the gable wall when the present rotten lintel is removed.

There was some discussion today as to the design of the lintel. If we maintain the current width of the fire exit door, then a stainless steel lintel will be constructed; can I apologise to the resident who e-mailed me about the possibility of a stainless steel lintel and my response was that they don’t exist. As I found out today, such things do exist.

Another option for the lintel is to reduce the width of the fire exit door, by bricking up about a quarter of it. This would allow the pillar from the roof, that rests on the lintel, to instead reach the floor by brick – as it would have done when the baths were built. Removing the downward force of the pillar from lintel, will allow a cheaper a concrete lintel to be used instead of a stainless steel lintel.

A decision of what type of lintel to use will be made when the present rotten lintel is removed.

In the meantime, we are pursuing the issue of lack of ventilation inside pool 2, which in turn is causing wet rot to form on the wooden timber roof. The pool has two mechanical fans which are rarely turned on, since their bearings are worn and create a screeching racket when turned on. We are aiming to get the bearings replaced in the coming weeks.