Bricklaying in Westbourne
Boundary walls, gate piers, chimney stacks and new brickwork across Westbourne and BH4, rebuilt to match what was there.
The site visit is free and so is the written itemised quote. Thomas Hannen prices every job himself.
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Most brickwork in Westbourne needs repair to what is already there: a front wall pushed out by roots, a gate pier leaning, a chimney stack that has lost its flaunching. We rebuild in matched red brick and the right mortar, and price it in writing first.
Trouble in Westbourne tends to start with the front of the house. A boundary wall along the pavement that has bowed or cracked, with a coping stone loose on top. A pier that the gate no longer closes against. Bricks crumbling at the foot of a wall where the rain splashes back. Or a chimney on a converted villa, where the leaseholders can see it moving from the garden and nobody is sure whose job it is.
Thomas looks at the whole wall, not just the crack, and in a building of flats he also asks who owns it, because a front wall or a stack on a converted villa usually belongs to the freeholder. He tells you whether it needs rebuilding, repairing or watching. The visit and the written quote cost nothing.
The work
Red brick walls, piers and stacks
Front boundary walls and gate piers. The late Victorian and Edwardian villas sit behind red brick front walls with piers and copings, and many of those walls are now a hundred years old. Roots from mature trees push them out, frost opens the joints, and a car clipping a pier finishes the job.
A wall that has bowed or cracked right through comes down as far as sound brickwork, or to the footing if the footing has shifted. It goes back up in its original bond, using the old bricks cleaned of mortar, with a root barrier where a street tree caused the trouble. A short run of front wall along the pavement usually takes two or three days.
Matching the brick. Spalled or broken bricks are cut out and replaced with a reclaimed or handmade brick that matches the size, colour and texture. On a wall that shows, we build a small sample panel first so you can see the match in daylight. If the joints are the problem rather than the bricks, that is a repointing job, and we say so.
Chimney stacks. Stacks on the Westbourne villas are tall, exposed and often the worst brickwork on the house. A cracked flaunching lets water down the flue. Loose bricks at the top of a stack mean it gets taken down to sound work and rebuilt, with the pots re-bedded and the lead at the roof put back. That needs a scaffold, and on a converted house the freeholder has to instruct it.
Bin stores, garden walls and blocks. With so many homes in Westbourne being flats, a lot of the work is for the building rather than one owner: bin stores, low walls around car parks, retaining walls and steps. These want a proper footing, a damp proof course and a coping that sheds water, or they end up like the walls they replace.
Working for freeholders and agents. About nine in ten Westbourne homes are flats, so the person who spots a loose coping is rarely the one who orders the repair. We write the quote to the managing agent or residents' company, with photographs they can circulate. A big job such as rebuilding a shared stack can cross the section 20 consultation threshold, so a written specification early saves weeks. Making a dangerous wall or stack safe does not wait for that.
New work. Extensions, porches and new walls in cavity construction, with a brick outer leaf in stretcher bond, blockwork inside, wall ties, a DPC and a lintel over every opening. Where the work is next to a neighbour's wall, the Party Wall etc. Act 1996 may apply, and it is better to know that at the start.
When to leave it alone. A fine crack in a Westbourne villa's front wall that has not grown for years is not a reason to rebuild. We tell you that, and suggest a pencil mark at each end so you can see if it moves.
How it runs
From your call to a written price
One person to ring from the first visit to the last. The quote is itemised, not a figure on the back of a card: access, raking out, the mortar mix, the area of each elevation, any brick replacement and disposal on separate lines, so you can compare it properly against anyone else's.
Nothing on a Westbourne job is left open or unusable overnight. The site is swept at the end of each day rather than the end of the job, and what comes out leaves with us. If something turns up once we start that nobody could have seen, you get a photograph and a price before we carry on.
Repairing or rebuilding a wall like for like is not normally a planning matter, and the Planning Portal guidance on garden walls covers new walls and height limits. Inside the Westbourne Conservation Area the rules are tighter, the council keeps the list, and building control comes in for new structural work such as an extension.
Cost
What decides the price of a brickwork job
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 Westbourne front wall on the pavement, a chimney stack three storeys up on a converted villa, and a bin store in a block car park are three very different set ups. 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. Only then are the figures worth comparing.
If something has moved
Loose brickwork, or a wall that has shifted
Ring rather than use the form. Anything overhead or leaning goes to the front of the queue: a chimney with movement in it, a parapet, a garden wall pushed out by roots or a vehicle.
The first visit is about making it safe and stable, and we quote the permanent repair once we can see how far the movement goes. In a block or a converted house, the walls and chimneys belong to the building, so tell the managing agent as well as us. Scheduled work runs Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm. For anything urgent, ring rather than use the form, and if we cannot pick up we ring you back as soon as we can.
The one local thing
Taking down a front wall in the conservation area
The centre of Westbourne, around Poole Road and Seamoor Road, is the Westbourne Conservation Area, and if your property is inside it, a front boundary wall is not just a garden feature.
Pulling down a wall over a metre high that faces a road is what the law calls relevant demolition, and doing it without permission can be an offence under section 196D of the Town and Country Planning Act. Rebuilding it the same way after an accident is a different matter from removing it for parking.
So if your wall has come down, or needs to, check whether your address is inside the boundary before anybody clears it away. Keep the old bricks and copings, because re-using them is the easiest way to put back what was there. We check the address before we quote, photograph the wall before it comes down, and rebuild it to the same height, bond and coping. If you want to change it, widen a gateway or take it out altogether, that is a question for the council first.
Who you are dealing with
A local firm you can check
We cover Westbourne and BH4, from County Gates to the West Cliff side and down towards Alum Chine, and next door into Branksome and Canford Cliffs. BCP Council handles planning and building control, and our base in Boscombe is a short drive away.
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 Westbourne, you can read our customers' Google reviews, word for word, on our reviews page.
Planning at a glance
Do you need planning permission in Westbourne?
Most repairs in Westbourne 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.
| Question | In Westbourne |
|---|---|
| Who decides | BCP Council is the planning authority for Westbourne. BCP Council's heritage pages set out what it controls. |
| Conservation area | Yes: Westbourne Conservation Area. Check whether your street is inside the boundary before changing anything visible. |
| Listed buildings | Yes, there are listed buildings in and around Westbourne. If yours is one, work can need listed building consent. |
| Protected landscape | No National Park or National Landscape covers Westbourne. |
Questions
Questions about bricklaying in Westbourne
Can you match the old red brick on my wall?
A good match is usually possible. Westbourne's villa walls are mostly a soft red brick, so the sound ones are cleaned and re-laid, and the gaps filled with reclaimed or handmade bricks of the same size and colour. On a wall facing the street we build a sample panel first.
Does a bowed front wall need rebuilding?
Only if it has cracked right through or is still moving. A wall that leaned years ago and has stayed put may just want watching, and we say which it is.
How long does it take to rebuild a front wall?
A short length is often two or three days, depending on how much comes down and whether the footing has moved.
Do you clear up afterwards?
Yes. The pavement and the front garden are swept daily and rubble leaves with us. Old bricks and copings good enough to re-use are cleaned and stacked.
Nearby, and next door
Bricklaying near Westbourne
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Free quote
Get your Westbourne brickwork looked at
Thomas comes out, looks at the whole wall, the footing and the brick, and gives you a written itemised quote. The visit and the quote are both free.