Bricklaying and repointing in Christchurch

Old town brickwork. A fifth of the housing in Christchurch predates 1919 and it is heavily terraced, which puts a lot of soft red brick in solid wall construction within a few streets of each other. Those walls are breathable and were pointed in lime, and a great many were repointed in cement during the 1980s, which is what we are usually cutting back out: hard ridges standing proud of a brick face that has begun spalling behind them. We rake by hand, put back an NHL lime mortar with the sand matched to the original, and finish the profile as the street has it, weather struck or bucket handle rather than a modern flush strap. Inside the Christchurch Central conservation area, and on any of the 24 listed entries in the town, the profile and the colour are the whole argument, so they get agreed before an elevation starts rather than after.

Flats and 1980s blocks. Nearly two in five homes here are flats, and the brickwork problems on a block are not the ones a house gets. Cavity walls of that period sit on galvanised wall ties that rust and expand, which shows as fine horizontal cracking every fifth or sixth course. Two kilometres from the water, the air in that cavity carries salt, which does the ties no favours and keeps a wall damp between showers, so the seaward elevation is usually the one that has gone first. Lintel bearings over the window openings crack where the steel has moved. Parapets lose their coping and take water straight down the cavity. Some of it is remedial ties, some is a lintel cut out and replaced, and none of it is repointing, so a quote that only offers repointing has not looked properly.

On a terrace the stack is usually shared, standing above the party wall, and it weathers on every face: cracked flaunching, pointing washed out of the top courses, a lean that wants taking down a few courses and rebuilding. Access is off a scaffold or a tower depending on the pitch, and it is priced as work at height because that is what it is. At ground level it is front walls onto the street, rear boundary walls between gardens, and the low retaining walls that hold up a raised bed or a bin store. Older ones were built without a damp proof course, so they wick water and the bottom courses go first. We rebuild bowed lengths on a proper footing, put a DPC in where one belongs, reset coping, and build gate piers that are actually bonded in. New brickwork is extension skins in stretcher bond with blockwork behind, a new lintel where a wall is being opened up, and foundation work where a pier or a wall is going in. Structural work goes through building control, and we would rather have that conversation at the quote stage than after the first course is laid.

No rate per square metre: the metre of wall tells you nothing until you know what the joints are like. A terraced street with no side access, a second floor flat in a block and a detached house with a driveway are three different jobs. The platform is a priced line rather than a favour, under work at height rules. How deep the joints have to come out, and whether the faces have already spalled, decides the hours. Comparing quotes, ask the rake depth, hand or disc, the mix, the brick count and the scaffold.

We cover Christchurch and the BH23 streets around it, from the town centre out to Mudeford, Somerford, Burton and Highcliffe, and we are close enough to come back the same week if something needs a second look. 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.