Bricklaying in Ferndown

Seventies and eighties facing brick. Most of Ferndown went up in one long stretch of building, more than half between 1945 and 1982 with the peak in the late 1960s and early 1970s, so the brickwork is machine made facing brick in a gauged sand and cement and what fails is erosion of the joint rather than the brick.

Where mortar and brick are both hard a disc can run carefully down the bed joints, but every perp joint and anything soft comes out by hand, then it is refilled in lifts and struck back as it was built. Colour is matched wet against a dry sample, because mortar dries lighter than it looks in the bucket. Cavity walls of this age were built with mild steel ties, and where they have corroded the outer skin lifts along a bed joint at regular courses, so replacement ties go in resin fixed through the outer leaf. Lintels are the other one, over garage openings and wide picture windows, changed with the opening propped and needled.

Bungalows and blocks. Bungalows are nearly 43 per cent of the housing, and the obvious new brickwork on them is filling in an integral garage that is worth more as a room: blockwork inner leaf, insulation in the cavity, a cavity closer at the reveals, DPC and weep holes at the base, and a facing skin toothed into the existing stretcher bond, with the brick sourced and a sample panel first. Done properly it disappears. Done as a butt joint with the nearest brick to hand, it is the first thing anyone sees. Nearly a third of the homes in Ferndown are flats, and the outside of a flat belongs to the freeholder, not the person living in it, so the instruction comes from the freeholder or the managing agent, and where the cost per leaseholder passes the statutory threshold the landlord has to consult first under section 20 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985. We are glad to price a block, we just need the right person to sign it off.

The ground in Ferndown is wet and drives and patios have been relaid over the years until they sit above the damp proof course, so water gets into the brick above it and frost lifts the faces. Blown bricks are cut out and replaced with a match, and we tell you where the ground has to come back down, or it happens again. Front boundary walls, drive edging and gate piers are rebuilt off a proper footing where they have moved and repointed where they have not.

Brickwork is not quoted by the square metre here. A metre of wall says little until the joints have been checked.

Platform. A bungalow wall needs a tower at most, a two storey block of flats needs scaffold, and a low wall beside a drive needs nothing. What is needed is set under the work at height rules and appears on the quote.

Joints and faces. The depth of the rake and how many brick faces have spalled set the hours. Hand raking is slower but it is the safe method on softer brick.

Ground movement. The ground in Ferndown shrinks in a dry summer and swells in a wet winter. A crack caused by that, or by a downpipe pouring beside a footing, needs the cause sorting as well as the brick, or it opens up again.

Roots and cars. Conifer roots push garden walls over, and a gate pier that has been hit is often better rebuilt from the base than patched.

Matching. Facing bricks on houses of this age sometimes have to come from reclaimed stock, and finding a good match takes time.

When comparing, ask each builder about rake depth, hand or disc, the mix, the brick count and whether scaffold is included.

We build and repair walls in Ferndown, West Parley, West Moors, Longham and Wimborne, and Dorset Council deals with planning and building control there. Ferndown lies 5.9 miles from our Boscombe base.

The contract is with Bournemouth Roofing & Building Ltd, a company registered in England and Wales, number 15471719, owned by Thomas Hannen, who inspects the wall and sets the price himself. On Checkatrade, a customer whose job was verified gave us 10 out of 10. The visit and the written breakdown of costs are free. Before you book a visit in Ferndown, you can read our customers' Google reviews, word for word, on our reviews page.

Most repairs in Ferndown 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.