Bricklaying in Durham

We do. Langley Park, Esh Winning, Stanley are all within our normal working area for bricklaying, as is most of Tyne and Wear, County Durham and south east Northumberland.

As a general rule a wall up to two metres is permitted, dropping to one metre where it adjoins a highway used by vehicles or a footpath beside one. Different limits apply to listed buildings and some conservation areas, so it is worth confirming before the foundation goes in.

Brickwork can be laid for most of the year, but not in frost, and mortar needs protection in cold weather. We plan around the forecast rather than pushing on and producing weak joints.

Because a mortar stronger than the brick pushes moisture and movement into the brick face instead of the joint, which is what causes spalling on older property. On a soft older brick a lime based or weaker mix is usually the correct answer even though a strong cement mix looks tidier on day one.

Yes, including the foundation, the pier itself, any built in ducting for gate motors and the capping on top.

It depends on the address. The Durham City conservation area is extensive and the cathedral and castle sit within a World Heritage Site with its own buffer zone, so anything visible from a public view near the peninsula is looked at far more closely than a comparable job on the edge of the city. We check the designation before any design work goes far enough to be expensive to change.

It is Durham County Council. People sometimes send paperwork to a neighbouring authority because of the postal address or the historic county, and that costs time rather than money. For bricklaying you will need boundary wall height rules and, in conservation areas, mortar and joint specification.

Everything from stone and brick properties on and around the peninsula, Gilesgate and Crossgate through to later estates at Newton Hall, Belmont and Framwellgate Moor. Which of those you have changes the method more than the postcode does, which is why we look before we quote.

Yes, and it is worth knowing early. The ground under much of the Durham coalfield carries a mining legacy, and Durham County Council routinely expects a coal mining risk assessment where foundations are being formed in a high risk area. Where that applies we say so before you commit, not once the trench is open.

Yes. A wall without an adequate foundation will move, and on clay ground it will move noticeably within a couple of winters. The foundation depth depends on the wall height and the ground it is sitting on.