Bricklaying Services
Bricklaying in Whickham
The design question on bricklaying in Whickham usually gets settled by policy before it gets settled by taste, since the older core of Whickham falls within a designated conservation area, and if your property sits inside it Gateshead Council will expect matching stone or brick and a sympathetic mortar rather than the cheapest available match. Whickham is a hilltop village above the Derwent and the Tyne, with an old core around the Front Street and long views north across the valley.
Call 07854 366464Get a Free QuoteBricklaying done properly in Whickham
We have been building across the borough for over 25 years, and every Whickham enquiry gets a site visit and a written, no obligation quote before anyone commits to anything.
Bricklaying Services
Our bricklaying in Whickham cover
- Garden and boundary walls: foundations, brickwork, copings and piers built to last rather than to look right for a season
- Repointing: raking out and repointing in a mortar mix suited to the wall rather than the strongest available
- Structural brickwork: load bearing walls, piers and openings formed to the approved details
- Making good: tidy joints, clean faces and a site left properly at the end of each day
- Brick matching: sourcing the closest available brick and proving the match before ordering the load
- Steps and pathways: brick and block steps, thresholds and paths finished to fall correctly
Local Knowledge
Local considerations for bricklaying in Whickham
Whickham falls under Gateshead Council for both planning and building control, which is the practical starting point for bricklaying here. The older core of Whickham falls within a designated conservation area, and if your property sits inside it Gateshead Council will expect matching stone or brick and a sympathetic mortar rather than the cheapest available match. None of that is a reason not to do the work. It is a reason to establish the constraint before a design is finalised rather than after it has been drawn twice.
Ground conditions are the second thing we look at. Whickham sits on the old Durham coalfield with a long history of shallow working beneath it, so foundation design here is one of the places the mining question genuinely changes the answer. On brickwork this shows up in the footing rather than the wall, and the footing is the part nobody sees and everybody regrets skimping on.
Property types vary across Whickham more than the name of the town suggests. Around the Front Street, Fellside, Dunston Hill you will typically find older stone and brick properties around the Front Street and the church, while further out there is post war and later estates spreading south toward Sunniside and Marley Hill. For bricklaying, the older stock generally needs a lime based or weaker mortar so the joint fails before the brick does, whereas the newer housing takes a standard modern mix. The hill means sloping plots are common, and a sloping site changes both the groundworks and the scaffold before it changes anything else. None of this changes how we price, since every Whickham job is quoted in writing after a visit, but it does change what goes on the van and how the week is planned.
Recent work
Our Approach
How we work in Whickham
Site visit first
The first step is a site visit. Nothing gets priced in Whickham until we have seen what we are actually being asked to build.
A written quote
Everything goes in writing before work starts, including what is in the price and what is not.
Regulations handled
Most brickwork is a building regulations question rather than a planning one, but free standing walls have their own height rules at a boundary, and repointing a property in a conservation area can attract more scrutiny than the same job on the next street.
Kept informed
We keep you updated as the work goes on rather than disappearing for a week. It is the least complicated part of building work and the part most often done badly.
Frequently Asked Questions
Bricklaying in Whickham: your questions
Can you repair a chimney rather than rebuild it?
Often yes. If the brickwork below the roofline is sound, a rebuild above the roofline plus new flaunching and flashings is the usual and much less disruptive option.
Why does repointing need a specific mortar mix?
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.
Is your brickwork guaranteed?
Yes. Workmanship is guaranteed for an agreed period which we confirm in writing before starting.
Do you cover the areas around Whickham as well, such as Gateshead and Sunniside and Blaydon?
Yes. Alongside Whickham we regularly carry out bricklaying in Gateshead, Sunniside, Blaydon and across the wider North East, working from our base in Blaydon-on-Tyne.
Which council handles bricklaying applications in Whickham?
Whickham comes under Gateshead Council for both planning and building control. That is where a building regulations application is made and where the inspector who signs the work off comes from. Boundary wall height rules and, in conservation areas, mortar and joint specification is what they will be looking for.
Do ground conditions in Whickham affect bricklaying?
They can. Whickham sits on the old Durham coalfield with a long history of shallow working beneath it, so foundation design here is one of the places the mining question genuinely changes the answer. We raise it at the quote stage rather than after the digger arrives, so you know whether an investigation or an assessment is likely to be needed.
What sort of properties do you carry out bricklaying on in Whickham?
All of them. Around the Front Street and Fellside the stock is mostly older stone and brick properties around the Front Street and the church, and further out Whickham has post war and later estates spreading south toward Sunniside and Marley Hill. The right approach depends far more on the age and construction of the individual property than on the town.
Are there any planning restrictions I should know about in Whickham?
Possibly, depending on exactly where the property sits. The older core of Whickham falls within a designated conservation area, and if your property sits inside it Gateshead Council will expect matching stone or brick and a sympathetic mortar rather than the cheapest available match. If your property is affected, the design is shaped around that from the start rather than revised afterwards.
Do you clean the brickwork down afterwards?
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.
Can you match the existing brick on my house?
We take a sample and source the closest available match before ordering. On Victorian and Edwardian property an exact match is rarely available, so the joint profile and mortar colour do a lot of the work in making the new blend with the old.
Also covering near Whickham
We carry out bricklaying across the surrounding area as well as in Whickham itself.
Other building services in Whickham
Whatever else the project needs, it is the same team and the same standard.
Planning bricklaying in Whickham?
Tell us what you are planning and we will arrange a look at the property. You get a written, no obligation quote for bricklaying in Whickham, and an honest answer about what the regulations will actually require.
Call 07854 366464Request a Quote