Lime repointing on old brickwork in Breamore

Raking out is done by hand. The older houses in Breamore are solid wall, one brick thick with nothing behind the face, and pre-1919 work like that only stays dry by staying breathable. Handmade brick from before the railways is soft and porous, and the joint is meant to be the part that gives.

We cut the old mortar out with a chisel and a hacksaw blade to roughly twice the width of the joint, perpends as well as beds, and stop at sound material rather than at a mark on a tool. A disc cutter or an angle grinder never goes near a Breamore wall like this: it widens the joint permanently and takes the arris off the brick either side. Joints are damped down before filling and brushed back once the mix has taken up.

Deciding what comes off and what stays. Not every cement joint in Breamore needs taking out this year. Where the brick behind is already spalling, where the joint has washed out or gone crumbling and friable, or where it sounds hollow under a tap, it has to go, and so it must wherever penetrating damp is showing inside. Where a later elevation carries a sound cement joint and the faces behind it are still crisp, disturbing it can do more harm than leaving it. That judgement is made face by face with a key in hand, which is why the quote comes back elevation by elevation.

Matching the mix. A mortar match is a match of sand first and colour second. We take a sample of sound original from somewhere sheltered, look at the grain and colour range in it, and make up a trial panel on a discreet part of the wall in the mix we intend, usually an NHL lime or lime putty gauged against the original. You look at that dry and in daylight, because fresh mortar reads lighter than aged. The finish goes back to the profile the wall already has, on this stock usually flush or slightly recessed rather than the weather struck or bucket handle joint that belongs on later work.

Stacks and flaunching. A Breamore stack takes weather on four sides and has a cold flue up the middle, so it goes friable long before the walls do. Repointing above the roof line, cutting out perished brick and renewing the cracked flaunching that beds the pots is usually the first repair a Breamore stack needs. On a listed building the stack goes back exactly as it was, so it is recorded and photographed before anything is opened.

Faces that have gone. Once a brick has lost its face, every frost takes another layer. We cut the unit out whole and bed a reclaimed brick of the right period in its place, laid so the bond reads correctly rather than as a patch. Sourcing is half of that job, and worth the fortnight it sometimes takes.

The head of a wall. On a free standing Breamore wall the coping is doing all the work. Once it has lost its bedding, water gets into the core and the wall comes apart from the top down. Rebedding coping and pointing the top courses first is the cheapest useful thing you can do to one.

How deep the joints need raking. Joints come back to sound mortar, usually about twice as deep as they are high. A wall that has weathered evenly is quicker than one with deep holes from years of driven rain.

By hand. Soft old brick is raked by hand with a plugging chisel. It is slow. A disc is faster, but it widens the joint and takes the edge off the brick, and that damage is permanent.

The mix. A lime mortar is matched to the original for sand colour and texture, and to the brick for strength. A natural hydraulic lime or a lime putty mix, and the right sand, take time to source and mix.

The season. Lime cannot go on in frost, and it must be kept damp in heat. That limits the days it can be done and sometimes means working in shorter stretches.

Getting up there. A chimney stack needs a scaffold to the ridge, and next to a thatched or old tile roof it needs extra care. A low garden wall needs nothing. The work at height rules set the access and its line.

Ask any other quote what mix and sand are going in and whether they were matched, whether the joints are raked by hand, and how many bricks are being replaced.

Your repointing is priced by Thomas Hannen, the owner, and not by a salesman. He comes 16.1 miles from Boscombe to look at your joints in Breamore, and does the same in Woodgreen, Hale, Sandleheath and down into Fordingbridge.

New Forest District Council handles planning for Breamore, Sandleheath and Fordingbridge; Woodgreen is inside the National Park, whose Authority decides there, and in Hale it is worth checking which side of the Park boundary you are. The company, Bournemouth Roofing & Building Ltd, is registered in England and Wales as number 15471719. One verified Checkatrade review gives it 10 out of 10. We charge nothing to come and look, and nothing for a quote that lists the mix, the area and every other item. Before you book a visit in Breamore, you can read our customers' Google reviews, word for word, on our reviews page.

Most repairs in Breamore 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.