Gideon Mercer · Historic Timber & Lime Practice
Book a first call →Independent building conservation advisor · St Mary's Street, Shrewsbury
Gideon Mercer is an independent historic building advisor based in Shrewsbury, preparing conflict-free condition surveys, damp diagnostics, and traditional repair specifications across the Welsh Marches. This personal practice page is free of third-party advertising and algorithmic feed-ranking, shows no follower counts, and keeps all writing, projects, and technical notes exportable and portable to the practitioner's own domain.
All surveys are conducted personally on site using non-destructive capacitance and carbide-meter moisture profiling, borescope inspection, and mortar analysis. Published field papers are available to read or request without registration.
Fixed fees are confirmed in writing once floor plans and listing descriptions are reviewed. Mileage within 35 miles of Shrewsbury is included.
Twenty-two years inspecting and specifying repairs for vernacular timber-framed houses, parish rooms, and agricultural barns across Shropshire, Herefordshire, and Powys. Former site carpenter and post-graduate researcher in traditional lime mortars; verified academic and project credentials are provided directly on written terms of engagement.
Specified the careful jacking and green-oak scarf repair of a decayed corner post and replacement of cracked cement panels with haired lime daub over riven oak laths.
Prepared structural carpenter drawings and hot-mixed lime pointing trials to stabilise wind-shaken queen-post trusses without introducing concealed steel flitch plates.
Send photographs, postcode, and any existing survey extracts. Gideon confirms whether a targeted defect visit or full fabric survey is appropriate and issues a fixed-fee letter.
Following the site inspection, you receive an illustrated plain-English report with repair priorities, mortar mixes, and a 45-minute telephone walkthrough.
Clear expectations on what is covered and what this does not include.
Rather than posting short fragments on third-party social networks, Gideon publishes complete technical field notes on oak carpentry repairs, lime renders, and moisture monitoring that custodians, architects, and builders can cite and download directly.
This practice site contains no third-party advertising, no algorithmic feed-ranking, and no follower counts or artificial endorsement badges. Articles and project notes appear in chronological order.
All essays, project case notes, drawings, and enquiry forms are authored in clean, structured files that remain wholly exportable and portable to the practitioner's own domain for long-term archival stability.
The practice sells only inspection time, diagnostics, and specifications. We never take referral fees from damp-proofing companies, timber-treatment contractors, or material suppliers.
Operating from St Mary's Street in Shrewsbury, covering historic buildings within roughly one hour's travel:
Office & studio14a St Mary's Street, Shrewsbury SY1 1EQ
Telephone0117 496 0642
Direct emailgideon@mercerconservation.example.com
Technical conservation guidance needs stable URLs, clear diagrams, and zero interference from third-party advertising or algorithmic feed-ranking. Hosting on an owned, portable domain means clients and contractors can reference our notes without logins or follower counts.
Yes. Every field note and project summary is kept in a portable, standards-compliant format on our own domain and may be shared with your architect, conservation officer, or site carpenter.
We do not use unverifiable web badges. Full details of academic qualifications, professional indemnity cover, and relevant historic-building project references are included in our written terms of engagement before you instruct us.
Yes. We carry out gravimetric and capacitance moisture profiling to identify the actual moisture source—often high external ground levels or cement pointing—and provide an evidence-backed report suitable for lenders and insurers.
What to have ready: A brief summary of your requirements, any relevant dates or deadlines, and questions you would like answered. All discussions are confidential.