Bricklaying and repointing in Rockbourne

Flint and brick, pointed to the flint. The chequer and banded walls here are flint set in a lime mortar with brick at the quoins, the lacing courses and the openings, and the flint is doing almost nothing structurally on its own. It is the mortar that holds the wall together, so when it washes back the flints loosen and then drop. We rake the joints out by hand and point back in an NHL lime matched for sand, colour and texture, brought up around each flint rather than smeared flush across the face, because a flush skim over flint is what makes an old wall look like a concrete one.

The brick in the village is soft and handmade, and where it has been repointed in sand and cement the damage shows in the brick rather than the joint. A hard joint stops a solid wall breathing, so the moisture leaves through the face and pushes it off. Cutting that cement out without damaging what is left is slow, patient work.

Plinths, and the wet end of a wall. Several buildings here are cob or chalk sitting on a brick or flint plinth, and the plinth exists to keep the earth wall clear of the splash line. Once it loses its mortar, water gets behind it and the wall above starts to go. Rebuilding a plinth course by course in lime, bedded so the wall can still dry, is a repair worth doing the year you notice it. The village sits in flood zones 2 and 3 with Sweatfords Water only metres off the built edge, so the bottom courses of any wall here work harder than they do elsewhere.

A stack above a thatched roof is the most exposed brickwork in the village. We repoint above roof level, cut out perished brick, renew the flaunching round the pots and rebuild from the flashing up. Working over thatch changes the method rather than the price: no grinders, no flame, the coat sheeted, and the access set out so nothing is dragged across it.

The walls along the street are long, old and have no damp proof course, so they wick water up from a verge that is wet for much of the winter and the bottom courses go first. We rebuild bowed lengths on a proper footing, reinstate the coping that was keeping rain out of the core, and rebuild gate piers bonded into the wall. The former farm buildings bring blocked cart openings cracked along the joint between old and new, sagged lintels, and new openings that need a foundation under the pier.

No rate per square metre: the metre of wall tells you nothing until you know what the joints are like. A thatched cottage on the street edge, a flint and brick wall along the lane and a barn in the yard behind a house are three different set ups. How long a 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. Matching an existing lime for colour and strength takes trial panels, and matching a brick means sourcing it. Ask what the mix is.

We are about seventeen miles from Rockbourne and up into SP6 regularly, covering the villages north of Fordingbridge including Sandleheath, Breamore, Damerham and Whitsbury. 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.