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old school bricklayer with experience with lime mortar needed in Worthing ASAP



kalinx

Member
Jan 11, 2006
118
Hi all,

I live in a Victorian house in Worthing which has decorative red/yellow bricks on the front. I had a roofer come around who claimed he could also repoint - well that was a mistake. He has pulled out the brickwork that was loose and now there is a huge hole above the top bay window.

I want a proper job done repairing it with lime mortar and replacing/repointing the damaged blown brickwork on the whole front façade.

Any advice on people who could do the work. Am happy to pay good money for the right man and will pay travel, ideally want someone who has worked with heritage brickwork in the past,

Cheers,

Lukas
 








Bry Nylon

Test your smoke alarm
Helpful Moderator
Jul 21, 2003
19,848
Playing snooker
Careful.

I hired an old school bricklayer and he build me a Victorian classroom :rant:
 
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You're paying the price for not putting 'old school' in inverted commas Lukas, a bit of an oversight for someone who took the trouble to include a cedilla in façade :).
I'd suggest you get up a stepladder and take some pics, one showing the extent and more with closer shots of the damage. I've laid some bricks in my time and wouldn't have thought you need experience to include lime in the muck.
BTW, is the job only open to men? ???
 
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sams dad

I hate Palarse
Feb 7, 2004
6,383
The Hill of The Gun
You're paying the price for not putting 'old school' in inverted commas Lukas, a bit of an oversight for someone who took the trouble to include a cedilla in façade :).
I'd suggest you get up a stepladder and take some pics, one showing the extent and more with closer shots of the damage. I've laid some bricks in my time and wouldn't have thought you need experience to include lime in the muck.
BTW, is the job only open to men? ???

As a bricklayer with many years experience, I would agree that the basic skills of bricklaying with Lime mortar are the same as those required when using normal cement mortar.
However, brickwork laid in Lime Mortar takes much longer to "go off", and therefore requires much more aftercare, and is particularly vulnerable to weather damage until completely hardened.
 


fc52b976521be2f2f9a3413244978352.jpg

These were very reasonable,very polite,ate nearly a whole packet of hobnobs mind!
 






:eek:

I take it they are knocking it down:)
No competent builder would knock that down without a hard hat! It's unbelievable, surely a child knows bricks have to be bonded? They seem to have forgotten the ties in that cavity on the right :)

As a bricklayer with many years experience, I would agree that the basic skills of bricklaying with Lime mortar are the same as those required when using normal cement mortar.
However, brickwork laid in Lime Mortar takes much longer to "go off", and therefore requires much more aftercare, and is particularly vulnerable to weather damage until completely hardened.
As a bricklayer with many hours' experience*, surely the whole point of lime mortar is that it doesn't harden completely, making it less prone to cracking?

*When I said I've laid some bricks in my time, I mean just some :). I had to rebuild a section of my brick garage because a few bricks were working loose due to neglected water damage.
 


Baldseagull

Well-known member
Jan 26, 2012
10,957
Crawley
Any decent Brickie can do it, regardless of whether he has used lime mortar before, but you might have to labour the point that you NEED lime mortar.
 






Merdalfthewizard

once more unto the breach
Dec 25, 2014
181
265 miles from home games
As a bricklayer with many hours' experience*, surely the whole point of lime mortar is that it doesn't harden completely, making it less prone to cracking?

This is dependent on the material being used, for softer, sand based products we use Hydrated Lime which allows for a certain amount of movement for harder, more dense materials like Flint, we use Hydraulic Lime, which tends to go off (dry) more solid.
Assuming the bricks are going to be reclaimed ones then a hydrated lime mix would be required, approximate gauge 4:1:1 (although I stand to be corrected)
 




kalinx

Member
Jan 11, 2006
118
You're paying the price for not putting 'old school' in inverted commas Lukas, a bit of an oversight for someone who took the trouble to include a cedilla in façade :).
I'd suggest you get up a stepladder and take some pics, one showing the extent and more with closer shots of the damage. I've laid some bricks in my time and wouldn't have thought you need experience to include lime in the muck.
BTW, is the job only open to men? ???

Haha, Thanks Nottseagull. I realise the cedilla looked a bit fancy and I should have put 'old school' in inverted commas! The cedilla was a copy and paste job from google. I've found someone now to do the work. Its quite a complicated job as new arches need to be made using formers and the bricks have to be cut to shape to form the arch. The lime mix needs to be spot on as the sea is in close proximity. Job is also open to females!
 








skipper734

Registered ruffian
Aug 9, 2008
9,189
Curdridge
:eek:

I take it they are knocking it down:)

I know they are not real bricklayers. I've never met one that would build that high without scaffold. As soon as they have to bend slightly or reach up above their chin, they are on at you. " We need the next lift by the morning", or the, "don't need it till tomorrow they went on another job". nag, nag, nag.
 


sams dad

I hate Palarse
Feb 7, 2004
6,383
The Hill of The Gun
I know they are not real bricklayers. I've never met one that would build that high without scaffold. As soon as they have to bend slightly or reach up above their chin, they are on at you. " We need the next lift by the morning", or the, "don't need it till tomorrow they went on another job". nag, nag, nag.

Don't tar us all with the same brush.:rant:
 




Baldseagull

Well-known member
Jan 26, 2012
10,957
Crawley
I know they are not real bricklayers. I've never met one that would build that high without scaffold. As soon as they have to bend slightly or reach up above their chin, they are on at you. " We need the next lift by the morning", or the, "don't need it till tomorrow they went on another job". nag, nag, nag.

I hung up my trowel several years ago, but Brickies graft.
 




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