Bricklaying in Rowlands Gill

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

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.

Yes, and it is worth knowing early. The Derwent valley sides are steep and wooded, so sloping ground, tree roots and drainage runs shape a groundworks package here more often than mining risk does, though the coalfield mapping still reaches this far west. Where that applies we say so before you commit, not once the trench is open.

It is Gateshead 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.

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.

We do. Chopwell, Whickham, Blaydon are all within our normal working area for bricklaying, as is most of Tyne and Wear, County Durham and south east Northumberland.

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.

Everything from older stone and brick properties along the valley road through to later estates spreading up the valley sides. Which of those you have changes the method more than the postcode does, which is why we look before we quote.

It depends on the address. The valley includes protected landscape and a number of mature trees are covered by preservation orders, so Gateshead Council will want to know what is happening near a protected tree before groundworks start. We check the designation before any design work goes far enough to be expensive to change.

Yes. Faces are cleaned as the work goes up rather than left to set, which produces a far better result than trying to remove hardened mortar at the end.