Getting to the point
Getting to the point
We’ve put off pointing the rest of the hall until we had the windows in and now those have been installed, we can get stuck into picking out the remaining walls and re-pointing. The northern gable-end is done, the east facing wall is done and the south-facing gable chimney has been reinstated and is ready for pointing. So, once the area around the patio doors has been picked out we’re ready to make a start.
Donald arrives the day before to get the scaffolding up as mine just isn’t stable enough to support us all in one go but it goes together really quickly and within minutes we’re ready to get stuck in. The wall is watered, the mix is being fed to everyone on the wall almost constantly and with five men on the job it doesn’t take long to get the mortar on.
There is a specific ratio of cement/sand/gravel which Donald uses (I’ll never tell!) to make the mortar look the same all of the way around and shows up the small flecks of stone so it should look really nice.
Brushing off is left to me and ‘the other Tom’, one of the lads Donald has with him who (although I hadn’t realised) has done some of the internal plastering and he seems quite pleased with what we’re doing with the place. He’s an interesting bloke and the time passes quite quickly as we’re brushing off with the sun on our backs. He’s off onto the roof to finish off the flashing and pointing around the chimney and before long, the scaffolding is down and the gable end gets it’s first proper showing. We’ve recessed the stone which shows the old slopping-out holes to give the wall some interest and even with the new mortar, you can see the original lintel positions. Personally, I think it all adds to the interest of the building and helps retain some of the history. Plus, it looks really good too.
The next weekend, once the rear area is a little clearer Donald is back and we’re powering through with (almost) the last of the external pointing around the patio doors and the rear seating area. There is a small area which when I was picking out still had some concrete and old London brick in the wall which needs to be replaced, but we’ll sort that out separately.
It’s a bit tricky to do this one because it’s too small and uneven to put scaffolding up and a bit awkward for ladders but we get it done.
The last bits to do are around the front and rear windows, so Donald leaves me with more than enough mortar to finish off and that becomes my last job of the day, making sure not to splosh everywhere. We still need to point the other sides of the windows and doors from the inside but I’m quite confident I can get that done without any ‘adult’ supervision.