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Deep cracks to front of property had revealed that a recently applied weak lime render mix had not bonded correctly to the original chalk and brick wall. This weakness in the render subsequently led to render movement and deep cracks appearing in and around the relatively new window frames.

Scratch Coat

Following the removal of the marked failed rendered areas, a double-haired coarse lime putty render was applied back to the original substrate.

Float Coat

A second coat of haired coarse lime putty render, followed by a third coat of un-haired coarse lime putty mix sponge and wood floated to blend in with the existing rendered areas.

Finish Coat

A final smoother finish coat was applied over the repaired area and feathered around the existing original render to blend in. Two coats of a matching lime wash was applied to repaired areas. A complete re-paint of the front wall is planned for the spring.

New centre section re-build required to a badly damaged original 17th century brick & flint garden wall. Reclaimed imperial wire cut bricks & copings, as well as chalk flints were sourced, with traditional lime putty mortar used for the construction. The back of the wall required a new buttress and replacement brickwork for added strength.

An unstable 18th century flint & brick farm wall

The main section of this wall was in danger of collapse and required urgent attention. We recommended to the client that the end sections could be retained if we Removed the middle section.

After cutting and separating the two end parts of the wall and removing the centre. We built a new middle section then tied it into the existing wall.

Reclaimed imperial wire cut bricks, flints, copings and lime putty mortar Were used for the new section of wall.

A new traditionally built brick & flint wall was commissioned by Oxford Diocese, following the collapse of the original 16th century wall within a church graveyard. The side facing the graveyard was built off the soil without foundations as it was originally built. Lime Putty Mortar was used to enable the wall to move during settlement and maintain its flexibility. The original copings were found, cleaned and re-instated, together with reclaimed imperial bricks.

Victorian house front face brickwork re-pointed in one dark and one light pigment mortar as the clients requested. We sourced a dark grey lime putty mortar for the grey bricks, with a moderate hydraulic cream coloured lime mortar for the lighter coloured London stock bricks.

Image of new chimney stack rebuilt with lime mortar. The bricks used were HG Mathews Imperial Chalfonts.

Two reclaimed Victorian chimney pots were sourced and installed to finish.

Image of lower part of gable wall with the hard cement removed, exposing all loose unstable flint and broken brickwork.

16th Century Flint & Brick Gable Wall

Image of 1960’s hard cement render to an early 16th Century Grade 11 Listed Cottage, exposing failed chimney stack and broken brickwork as well as rotting windows and tie beam.

Repaired flint & brick gable wall

Images of repaired flint & brick Gable wall. Existing Flint was re-pointed in Lime Mortar and re-bedded as well as new rebuilt imperial handmade HG Matthews bricks installed.

In addition we removed and installed new exposed air dried oak tie beam to the wall, which would originally, historically been the case as these types of buildings never covered up timber framing.

Images of finished gable and front walls, decorated with ten coats of limewash.

Wall repaired with existing materials plus new additional daub clay and new cut hazel timbers. Painted in an Earthborn Breathable Clay Paint, colour Straw.

Client required a more rustic finish than smooth. The daub used was mixed with straw and horse hair, and the finish coat used was a coarse mix 3-1.