Bricklaying in Parkstone

Front and garden walls. Many older streets have shallow front gardens behind a low brick wall with a coping on top. Roots, a failed coping and years of frost push them out of line.

We take the leaning section down to sound footing, clean and reuse the good bricks, make up the rest with reclaimed brick of the same size and colour, and rebuild it in the original bond with a proper coping so rain runs off rather than soaking in. Gate piers get the same.

Chimney stacks. Parkstone's older houses have large chimneys, and the top few courses take the worst of the weather. Loose brickwork is taken down and rebuilt to the same height and detail, the pots reset, and the flaunching on top renewed. We check the lead flashing at the same time, because that is where the stack meets the roof.

Cracks and lintels. A crack that follows the joints over a bay or window is often a failed lintel or an arch that has dropped. We cut out the cracked brickwork, fit a new lintel where one is needed and rebuild above it, matching the face. We tell you if the crack points to a footing or foundation problem that needs an engineer first.

Cavity walls. On the inter-war and post-war semis in Parkstone the walls are usually cavity built. Horizontal cracks every few courses can mean rusting wall ties; we check, and replace ties where they have failed. We also look for anything bridging the damp proof course, such as a raised path or a heap of soil.

New brickwork. Garden walls, piers, small extensions and porches, built in brick and blockwork on proper footings, with a DPC, cavity and ties where the wall needs them, and to building control where they apply.

Pointing. Where only the joints have gone and the bricks are sound, you do not need a bricklayer, you need the wall repointed. That is on our repointing in Parkstone page.

When would we talk you out of a rebuild? When a wall is out of line but stable and the bricks are sound. Then we say so.

No rate per square metre, because the metre of wall tells you almost nothing until you know what the joints are like.

Getting to it. A front wall on the pavement in Lower Parkstone, a stack on an Upper Parkstone terrace and a garden wall behind a 1930s semi are three very different jobs to reach. A chimney or a gable wants a scaffold, a garden wall wants nothing. How long the platform stands matters as much as its size, and the work at height rules are why it is a priced line rather than an optional extra.

The joints, not the wall. Raking out by hand is slow and is the only safe way on soft old brick. How deep the joints have to come out, and whether the brick faces have already spalled, decides the hours more than the area does.

The mix, and matching. Matching an existing mortar for colour, texture and strength takes trial panels. Matching a brick means sourcing it. Neither is a line most quotes make visible, and both are why two prices for the same wall can be so far apart.

Comparing quotes? Ask how deep the joints are being raked and by hand or by disc, what the mortar mix is and whether it has been matched, how many bricks are being replaced, and whether the scaffold is included. Quotes for one wall can describe very different jobs.

We cover the whole of Parkstone, from Ashley Road and Heatherlands on the higher ground down to Ashley Cross and Penn Hill, across BH12 and BH14, under BCP Council.

You are dealing with Bournemouth Roofing & Building, the trading name of 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. Before you book a visit in Parkstone, you can read our customers' Google reviews, word for word, on our reviews page.

Most repairs in Parkstone 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.