Repointing in Middleton

Middleton is largely inter-war and post-war brick — the semis of Alkrington, Boarshaw and Langley — with Victorian terraces around the old town centre and Rhodes. Cement repointing is right for most of it; the older terraces and anything around the Old Grammar School and the church want a closer look before deciding on lime.

Alkrington's bay-fronted semis often need window heads and cills re-bedding at the same time as repointing, which we do as part of the job.

Alkrington's bay-fronted semis and the 1930s streets around Boarshaw and Hollin are the bread and butter of our Middleton work: frost-damaged bricks below the damp course, hollow joints around bays, tiled creasing and cills that have come loose. We cut out and replace the spalled bricks, re-bed the cills and creasing, then repoint the elevation so the repairs don't show.

Around the old town, Rhodes and the streets below St Leonard's the terraces are older and the brick softer. We check whether the original mortar was lime before quoting, because putting hard cement back on Victorian brick is what causes the damage in the first place.

Langley and the post-war estates are cement-mortar cavity walls and quick to repoint. Middleton is a ten-minute run down the road from our base, so smaller jobs are easy to fit in.