Maintaining traditional brickwork is essential to its survival, as many common problems stem directly from the mismanagement of quick fixes or the removal of too much original material. The main philosophy behind traditional brickwork repair is to ensure that as much of the historic material can be conserved.
When it comes to traditional brickwork, Oxfordshire is one place where you’ll see it everywhere; it’s a common architectural staple. However, unfortunately, in our Oxfordshire area we often see buildings that have been improperly maintained, resulting in new problems emerging.
There are a few principles to ensure that you continue to maintain your brickwork in a safe and conservational manner. These frameworks will allow you to repair and manage the upkeep of your brick walls in a way that will save you future headaches, and allow your historic building to live on in its traditional state.
One of the most common repair malpractices is in the cleaning of your interior or exterior walls. Many traditional brickwork buildings in Oxfordshire have been layered with coats of impermeable paint to cover unsightly cracks or to simply decorate. Issues arise when this modern paint blocks the evaporative potential of the porous bricks. In essence, water is able to enter the brickwork but unable to evaporate away, leaving harmful damp patches that may lead unwise patrons to simply apply more paint. Such paint work requires regular cleaning as it can obscure dangerous cracks or misalignments that form in the brickwork over time. To ensure that you are on top of any issues that may appear in your brickwork, cleaning is essential to catching these problems before they result in the necessary removal of the traditional structure. Remember that every cleaning procedure poses a risk to the material itself, however, so be sure to undertake the process only with proper research into the construction of your wall and substances you will be using.
When we undertake traditional brickwork on Oxfordshire buildings, we find it imperative to establish the construction patterns and materials we are working with. Ignoring this step can lead to the use of damaging mortar repairs or inappropriate cleaning materials. There is a multitude of construction differences across the country and each carries its own requirements for the least invasive repair procedures possible.
The most common mistake in repairing such structures is the unnecessary replacement of old lime pointing. Making sure that your walls are pointed well is crucial to their upkeep. However, this old method of pointing is surprisingly sturdy and often deceives in its appearance. Many homeowners unknowingly remove traditional wall construction from properties because they believe the worn appearance of such pointing denotes breakage. You should seek advice, however, as it can be tricky to tell when pointing really does need repairing.
We carry out the careful and traditional brickwork Oxfordshire buildings need to ensure they are conserved for years to come. We keep this philosophy of conservation in mind throughout all our work, so get in touch to find out more about our services.