Bricklaying and repointing in Lymington

Repointing the later brickwork. Most of the estates around Pennington and the edges of town are cavity built in facing brick with a bucket handle joint, and on those the mortar goes back as a gauged sand and cement mix rather than lime. Half the housing here went up between 1945 and 1982 and another quarter after that, so this is the bulk of the work. It is all in the preparation: rake the joint to depth, get the dust out, wet the background and point back. Where an elevation faces the prevailing weather the joints erode faster than the sheltered sides, so it is normal to do one face of a house and leave the others for years yet, and we will say so rather than quote all four.

The older brick in the town centre. Closer in, the houses and the terraces are older, softer and often solid rather than cavity, and there are 160 listed entries in the parish. That brick wants lime, a joint finished flush and a sample panel agreed before we start on an elevation. Cement on a soft brick front here is the most expensive mistake we get asked to undo, because it takes the face off the brick and then the brick has to be cut out and replaced.

Stepped cracks over an opening usually mean the lintel has failed or a steel is rusting inside the wall, and that is cut out and replaced with the brickwork rebuilt over it. Cracks that run down towards the ground are a different conversation and we treat them as such. Where a crack is live we stitch and repair after the cause is dealt with, not before, and if what you actually need is a structural engineer rather than a bricklayer we will tell you that at the visit.

The ground falls away in a lot of this town and it shrinks and swells, so plenty of garden walls are quietly holding a bank back without ever having been designed to, and where the rainwater ends up beside a footing is a structural question and not just a damp one. Those bow, then the coping tips, then a section goes. We rebuild off a proper footing with weep holes so water is not trapped behind, rebed the coping and reset gate piers that have moved. On a new wall Planning Portal guidance on garden walls sets out the height allowed before planning permission, and where a wall stands on the line with next door, which is common in the terraces, the Party Wall etc. Act 1996 applies.

New work is extensions, garden rooms, porches and rebuilt returns, in cavity construction with a blockwork inner leaf, an outer leaf in stretcher bond, wall ties at proper centres, cavity trays and a visible damp proof course. Widening an opening or removing a load bearing wall brings building control in, and Planning Portal guidance on external walls sets out where that starts.

No rate per square metre: the metre of wall tells you nothing until you see the joints. A terraced front onto the pavement, a semi with a side passage and a detached house with a retaining wall down one boundary all differ. How long the platform stands matters as much as its size, and the work at height rules are why it is a priced line. Raking by hand is slow, so joint depth and spalled faces decide the hours, and matching a mortar or sourcing a brick takes trial panels. Ask how deep joints are raked, by hand or disc, and whether the scaffold is in.

We cover Lymington, Pennington, Everton, Boldre, Walhampton, Milford on Sea and Sway, and SO41 across to the Forest edge. 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.