Bricklaying in Burley

The exposed elevations first. The weather in Burley comes off the south west and it works at the edges of a building rather than the middle of a wall, so the joints that have gone are almost always on one or two elevations, round the corners and either side of the openings, while the sheltered face is still sound.

We rake out by hand to about twice the joint width, and point back in a mix matched to what is there: an NHL lime with a sand matched for colour and grain on older soft brick, so the wall keeps breathing, and a gauged mix on cavity work, finished bucket handle or weather struck on the exposed side so it sheds water. Once frost has taken the face off a brick it takes another layer every winter, so failed units are cut out and replaced with reclaimed or handmade stock laid so the bond reads correctly. The worst of it is normally on the weather corner and in the bottom courses above the damp proof course.

Walls that front open ground. There is a lot of free-standing brickwork in Burley and it lives a hard life. Walls onto the lanes and the forest verges weather from both faces at once, take the occasional knock from stock and traffic, and often sit on a footing that was never taken deep enough, in ground that shrinks and swells with the season. When one starts to bow, the repair is to take that length down, keep what is worth keeping, and rebuild it on a proper footing with the coping bedded and the piers tied in, not to point over a crack and hope.

A stack with a fire under it most of the winter gets a harder life than one that is decorative. It heats and cools daily, and the flaunching cracks and lets water into the top courses. We repoint stacks, rebuild the top few courses where the brick has gone soft, renew flaunching and reset copings, and where the brickwork above the roof has moved we take it down and rebuild it plumb rather than pointing over a lean. Stores, workshops and stable blocks out on the plot get looked at last and are the cheapest brickwork on a property to save: repointing, a new lintel over a door opening, a clipped corner rebuilt. New work is extensions and outbuildings with a facing skin in stretcher bond to match, cavity, ties, damp proof course and lintels detailed properly.

We do not price brickwork by the square metre. Equal walls may be days apart once the joints and the ground are looked at.

The platform. A cottage stack in daily use needs a scaffold; a low boundary wall does not. Under the work at height rules the scaffold is a priced line.

The joints. How deep the mortar has washed back, and whether the brick faces have spalled, sets the hours. On the south west side, where the driven rain hits, the joints are usually deepest.

The ground. A wall on shrinkable clay near a tree may need a new footing, not just repointing, and where roof water lands beside a foundation matters too. We check before quoting, not after.

The bricks. Matching old bricks is slower than buying new, and every spalled brick is cut out one at a time. Reclaimed bricks for an old cottage wall can take some finding. A stable block or outbuilding down a track adds carrying time.

Get each quote to state the rake depth, hand or disc, the mix, the number of bricks allowed for, and whether the scaffold is in.

We work in Burley and the villages around it, Bransgore, Thorney Hill and Hangersley, and out to Ringwood, across the BH24 postcode. The village is 8.8 miles from our base in Boscombe, and the Park Authority handles planning.

Bournemouth Roofing & Building Ltd is registered in England and Wales, company number 15471719. The man who inspects your wall and prices it is the owner, Thomas Hannen. On Checkatrade, one verified customer has marked us 10 out of 10. You pay nothing for the visit or for the written quote, which lists every item. Before you book a visit in Burley, you can read our customers' Google reviews, word for word, on our reviews page.

Most repairs in Burley need no application at all. What decides whether a change to the outside of your house does is who the council is, whether a conservation area or a listing applies, and whether the place sits in a protected landscape.