Report on the present state of Culra Bothy

for the MBA and the Ben Alder Estate, March, 2013.

 

Photo 1 – Culra Bothy, March, 2013

 

1.  Progress on the reduction in the fire hazard in the bothy

·   As noted in previous reports by us to the MBA and to the Ben Alder Estate, fire safety in the Bothy has been one of our major concerns since we took over as MO’s for the Bothy.  One of our primary worries has been the presence of loose furniture in all of the rooms in the Bothy.  This loose furniture could prevent an escape from the individual rooms, particularly in the dark, and this was considered a high risk to anyone needing to escape from the building in time of a fire or any other emergency.  This risk has now been greatly reduced by installing fixed tables, shelving, and rucksack/clothing hooks in all 3 rooms of the building with fixed seating around the tables.  At the present time there is no free-standing furniture apart from one small bench in the main large Common Room, and this has been left so that bothy users can sit in front of the stove.  It is not felt that this bench presents a serious impediment to a quick escape from this room.  The new tables are large enough to cook on in safety (see Photo 2 below) without the risk that cookers are knocked over or fall off the edge of the table.  This aspect of the fire safety alterations is therefore now complete.  The heating stove in the Common Room, however, still represents a very high fire risk and this will be discussed in a separate section on the stove below. 

·   As part of the reduction in the fire hazard at the bothy, the open fireplace in the Small Dormitory has been sealed and boarded-up.  This open fireplace leaked smoke through the chimney-stack into the attic space and through the top of the chimney to the outside.  It also produced sparks and embers inside the small dorm.  The space in front of the fireplace has been utilised to provide a table with seating on the sleeping platforms at either end (see Photo 2 on the next page).

 

2.  General improvements to the bothy

·   The new large fixed tables mentioned above, as well as lowering the fire risk, have also greatly increased the amenity of the bothy, making it much easier for the large numbers of Bothy users to prepare food, cook, and eat on the new tables.

·   The sleeping accommodation has been greatly improved and increased, and is now capable both of more flexible use and of accommodating the increasingly larger numbers using the bothy.  

·   The doors to both porches are now capable of being secured and opened from both the inside and the outside of the doors with sliding bolts.

 

3. The continued fire risk to Culra Bothy presented by the Common Room stove.

          The stove in the Common Room has a number of unfortunate problems which we again tested during a visit to the bothy on 9/10/11 March, 2013:

  1. The stove’s design is basically that of providing a focal point to a domestic urban household sitting room.  It has fireglass windows at the front so that the fire inside is visible in a re-assuring way.

Photo 2 – The interior of the small dorm showing the blocked-up fireplace, the new fixed table, and the sleeping platform at the right which we have raised to the same level as the platform at the rear.

 

  1. As such we have found that it provides virtually no heat to the surroundings when used correctly with the doors shut.  Even with a large fire raging inside the stove, the top of the stove can still almost be touched with a bare hand.  The top of the stove is at an ideal temperature to chambré a bottle of red wine, but is not hot enough even to keep a metal plate of food warm on it.  The sides and back of the stove are somewhat warmer, but only just.  Used correctly with the front doors shut, the stove provides a totally inadequate amount of heat to the main Common Room in proportion to the amount of fuel it uses.  All of the heat from the stove goes up the chimney.  There is no question of ‘repairing’ or ‘restoring’ this stove as it was repaired recently (June, 2012) to a state as ‘good as new’ by Robin Ritchie, the previous MO of the bothy.
  2. However, if used incorrectly with the doors kept wide open, the stove produces a good, satisfying heat to the main Common Room.  And this is, of course, the way it is normally used.  But used in this way it is a really serious fire risk.  Sparks and embers are constantly flying out of the open fire, and it needs constant attention to ensure that these embers do not set clothing, socks, boots, and, indeed, the building alight.
  3. In addition, the doors of the stove, being of glass are constantly broken by bothy users who try to shove inappropriately-sized pieces of wood into the stove.  This means that, again, sparks and embers are thrown out of the broken doors of the stove onto the floor and area surrounding the stove.

 

          The stove is totally unsuitable for bothy use and should, in our opinion, be replaced as soon as possible.

          The stove is an accident waiting to happen.  We have noted in a recent MBA quarterly, that a number of other bothies have ‘become unavailable’ and in all cases it was because these bothies had caught fire and burned down.

 

Is Culra going to be next??

 

          Because of the extremely high fire risk that the stove presents to the bothy, the current MO’s have been agitating over the years for the replacement of the stove.  In our view this is now a matter of great urgency.  We, the MO’s, cannot be held responsible if the bothy burns down.  We have been trying to pursue this matter for a number of years – so far without result.  The current MBA’s non-replacement policy of bothy stoves is simply not tenable in the case of Culra:  the stove in Culra has excessive fire risks and must be replaced or simply removed altogether in order to alleviate this fire risk.

          A refusal by the MBA to replace the stove in Culra would make the office of MO of the two current holders untenable.  We simply cannot take responsibility for the Bothy under the high-risk conditions that obtain at the moment.

 

          If the bothy stove is to be replaced there are two possibilities:

  1. The present stove is replaced with a commercially-available cast iron cabin stove.  Such a stove is available from a number of different suppliers for about £250 to £300 + VAT.  Such a stove would also provide good heat, would not crack or melt, could use either wood or coal (or any other burnable solid fuel such as bog pine or peat, for example), and could be used for cooking and keeping food warm.  It would not be as robust as the custom-built steel-plate stove discussed below, but the cost advantages of this stove are obvious.  The commercial cabin stove could be replaced about 5 times over for the cost of the custom-built stove.

 

Photo 3 - Commercially available cabin stove suitable for use in Culra Bothy

 

  1. The second possibility is that the present stove is replaced with a custom-built steel plate stove built to specification.  The design of a bothy stove that would provide good heat, that would not crack or melt, that could use multiple fuels, and that could be used for cooking and keeping food warm is shown in the drawing below.  The best estimate for the cost of such a stove from a reliable metal-working engineering firm in Edinburgh is £1,650 + VAT.

 

 

4.  Current un-resolved bothy conditions as of March, 2013

          The MO’s have expressed grave concerns over the general condition of the bothy in our last few reports.  Chief among these are the porches and the roof.  The present porches are wrongly made to provide good protection from the driving wind and rain which beat against the building from the prevailing south and west winds on the porch side of the building.  The doors of both porches do not close of their own accord:  they blow open instead of blowing shut.  The wood of both porches is, as a result, rotten and this is exacerbated by the fact that the roofs of both porches leak because of the poor workmanship of previous repairs and installation (see, for example the workmanship of the roof in Photo 5 below).  The westerly porch is dark, the easterly porch’s floor is collapsing and water which blows in accumulates on the floor.  Both porches need to be replaced urgently.  The framing for the door and the threshold of the easterly porch has been replaced a few years ago, but it is pointless to carry out any further repairs to these porches as the doors will always blow open in the future leading to the same problems again.

Figure 1 - Drawing of a design for a new stove for Culra Bothy

Figure 2 – Drawings of the old and new porches for Culra Bothy.  The scale is the same in all drawings

 

          The drawings in Figure 2 above show the front view of the bothy (left) and the side view of the bothy (right) in each case.  The top drawing shows the bothy as it is now with two porches.  The next two drawings show possible configurations for a new single, long porch that is 100 cm wider than the present porches.  It is assumed for reasons of safety, especially in the dark, that the level of the floor in the new porch is the same as the level of the floors in the Common Room and the Small Dormitory.  The second drawing shows a possible porch with the doorway in the middle of the south side of the new long porch.  This doorway would, however, face into the direction most affected by the weather.  The angle of the roof, determined by the present location of the roof beam and the height of the door on the south side would have to be rather shallow.  If this possibility is chosen, soil would have to be removed from this side of the bothy so that the lower portion of the door is not always wetted by the prevailing weather.  The third drawing shows a possible porch with the door at the side of the bothy facing the track.  In this location it would be sheltered from the prevailing weather.  The soil already drops away from the building on this side and placing the door here would possibly require a step up to enter the porch.  If the door is hinged on the left and opens outwards as is required by health and safety, then the door would naturally blow shut in the prevailing winds.  The door could also be made longer than shown in the drawing to prevent water entry into the porch from a low level.

          The arrangement shown in the third drawing is much preferred by the MO’s for Culra Bothy.

          The drawing shown below in Figure 3 shows a plan view of the bothy with the new porch drawn in blue lines.  This is on the south side of the Bothy facing Ben Alder.  The present porches are only about 120 cm wide, and the additional width of 100 cm is shown in blue.  The windows in the porch are roughly opposite the doorways to each of the rooms at this end of the building.  For health and safety reasons, these two doors should be re-hung and be made to open outwards from the dormitory areas into the porch.

 

Figure 3 – A drawing of the front part of the Bothy showing the MO’s suggestion for a new porch.

 

          The replacement of the porches is closely tied to the bad condition of the roof resulting from the poor workmanship when the present roofing material  was installed.  A sheet of roofing was torn off in the gales of 2012-2103, but this has been successfully repaired by the Estate and was reported by us in a previous report.  However, the matter is becoming rapidly worse.  Our recent trip to the bothy in March showed that the west side valley gutter is now leaking and water entry into the attic and roof space is causing damage to the roof beams and the ceiling above the large Common Room.  Indeed we have already had to repair a leak in the valley gutter on the other side of the building.  This damage can be seen clearly in Photo 4 and its cause can be seen in Photo 5 below. 

Photo 4 – Mould growth on the sloping ceiling of the west side of the Common Room.  The arrow marks the point where the valley gutter crosses above this part of the ceiling causing the dark mould growth visible to the right.

 

Photo 5 below shows the valley gutter facing north-west where the source of the problem is clearly evident.

 

Photo 5 – The valley gutter on the west side of the Bothy showing the generally bad state of the roof and the poor workmanship of the installation of the roofing.

          The roofs of both porches also continue to leak as reported by us above and in a number of previous reports.  This, along with water entry through the doors when they are accidentally left open, continues to cause problems.  The time is rapidly approaching when the floor timbers in the porches are going to collapse under the weight of a bothy user or, indeed, the walls of one of the porches is going to collapse.  The state of the porches is becoming critical and is in need of urgent attention.

 

          The Bothy urgently needs re-painting and waterproofing with Cuprinol.  But we are loath to organise a work party to do this until the new porches are built and the building is re-roofed.  We are now in a state of limbo not knowing whether there will be Estate help (with or without contributions from the MBA) for roof replacement (which really is irreparable) and replacement of the porches.

          We, as MO’s, are not capable of doing the work (the inexpert nature of the last roof repairs/replacement must surely have some bearing on the roof being in need of repair so soon after its complete replacement).  The rebuilding of the porches would provide shelter for the most vulnerable aspect of the bothy and improve its usability and comfort as well as providing much needed space. 

 

Summary:

  1. The stove in the Bothy needs replaced, or needs to be removed without replacing it.
  2. The roofing on the Bothy needs replaced by a person or firm competent to do so.
  3. The two porches need replaced, ideally with a single wider porch also to be re-roofed.

 

If the above are accomplished the MO’s are qualified and agree to carry out the following with or without help:

  1. Transport of a new stove to the bothy and removal of the old one.  Installation of the new stove.
  2. Installation of new guttering, downpipes, etc to replace or re-new the present guttering.
  3. Painting of the whole building including exterior and interior walls, trim, windows, etc. including the painting of the new porch inside and out.
  4. The MO’s would like to be consulted regarding the choice of porch windows, the porch door(s), replacement windows for the main part of the Bothy, all of which are also now needing replaced.  These windows all need to be openable as they provide the only second means of escape from the room if the doors are blocked by fire.
  5. The MO’s would be willing to co-operate with both the MBA and the Ben Alder Estate in any way that can further the long and continued use of the Bothy to users now and in the future.

 

If the above improvements/repairs are carried out the following points should be noted:

  1. The Estate should be asked to clean out the lined flue for the stove on a regular basis – probably once a year.  The MO’s are willing to do this job, but MBA health and safety requirements would necessitate the erection of scaffolding to carry out this work.  The major amount of effort and expense required to erect the scaffolding is out of all proportion to the job that needs to be done.
  2. A storage space for tools, equipment and supplies such as paint, etc would be built into the west end of the new porch by the MO’s so that these are more accessible and require less time to take out and put away during each visit to the Bothy.  This storage space would take the form of a normal cupboard and would be barred and double locked to prevent bothy users from gaining access.
  3. It would increase the geniality of the Common Room to install a new sealed window on the west wall above the new table to increase the amount of light in this room and its general amenity.  The MO’s are competent to carry out this improvement without assistance.
  4. It might be considered opportune to replace the old openable windows (one in each of the three rooms of the Bothy) all of which are at the end of their useful lives.  The wood and casements of all of these windows is now totally rotten.
  5. The old wood from the present porches should, in our opinion, be left on site to be used by bothy users for firewood.  The MO’s would undertake to saw up this wood in convenient lengths and store it for use by bothy users.
  6. The chimney is harled around its outside in the attic space in an ineffective attempt to seal it from the outside and thus to prevent smoke from escaping from it.  It would seem to be a good idea to dismantle the chimney when the roof is off, re-point and re-assemble it, and re-line the part used by the stove in the Common Room.  The chimney has, before the fireplace in the Small Dorn was blocked up, leaked smoke into the attic space and through the pointing of the chimney from the part above the roof level.

 

Figure 4 – Harling on the chimney in the attic space.  A vain attempt to prevent smoke from the chimney leaking into the attic space.

 

  1. Some of the roof timbers and joists, especially those near the chimney have rotted as a result of continued exposure to water which leaked down around the chimney because it was not properly sealed.  The chimney has now been sealed with lead sheeting, but will need to be replaced when the new roofing material is installed.  Most of the damage of this sort is limited to a small number of timbers near the chimney.  The rest of the roof timbers and joists appear to be in good condition.

 

                                                                                     Grant O’Brien and Johnny Bell, Culra Bothy MO’s

                                                                                     13/4 Gayfield Square

                                                                                     EDINBURGH      EH1 3NX

                                                                                     Telephone 0131 556 8705

                                                                                     Mobile  J: 07506804800;  G: 07939676903

                                                                                     e-mail:  johnny.bell@claviantica.com

                                                                                     March 17, 2013

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