Bricklaying and repointing in Burley

The exposed elevations first. The weather here 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 this village 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, rather than 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.

No rate per square metre: the metre of wall tells you nothing until you know what the joints are like. A cottage with a stack in daily use, a stable block down a track and a low boundary wall you can walk round are three different jobs. The platform is a priced line rather than a favour, under work at height rules. Depth of rake and the state of the brick faces decide the hours, not the square metres. Two quotes for the same wall are usually two different jobs, so ask what is in each.

We work in Burley and the villages around it, Bransgore, Thorney Hill, Hangersley and out to Ringwood, and the BH24 postcode generally. Bournemouth Roofing & Building Ltd, registered in England and Wales, company number 15471719, which you can look up in a minute. Thomas Hannen's business, and he is the one who comes out to price the job, not a salesman. A verified customer's 10 out of 10 on Checkatrade. The visit and the written quote are both free.