BRICKWORK CONSERVATION by Andy Mann

Current Projects

Chimney Stack Conservation on a lovely 500 year old building.

The chimney stack had been rendered, probably about 30 years ago, using a Portland cement render. The rendering had cracked, and the owner wanted it removed, and the bricks cleaned and re-pointed.

A view of the base of the stack. The rendering had all ready been removed from the lower walls of the house sometime in the past, and the brickwork cleaned.

With the scaffolding in place, my workmate begins removing the old render.

The rendering has been completely removed.

A closer inspection at the top of the stack reveals repairs believed to have been carried out about 30 years ago. A Portland cement mortar had been used that did not allow for the natural movement of this old chimney stack. The mortar probably cracked allowing the ingress of water, that subsequently froze splitting open the mortar. Or was there some other reason why the chimney pot had toppled to one side?

Return to this site to see what the real problem was, how the repairs were effected, and the conservation work completed.

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