Repointing in Radcliffe

Radcliffe's terraces around Blackburn Street, Ainsworth Road and the town centre are brick with a fair bit of local stone mixed in, particularly on the older cottages near the Irwell and up towards Ainsworth. The two need treating differently — cement on the brick, lime on the stone — and a lot of houses here have both on the same elevation.

The inter-war semis on the Coronation Road side are straightforward cement work, usually a full front with a few frost-damaged bricks replaced. The Irwell valley is damp and the bottom two or three courses suffer for it; we'll tell you if the problem is the pointing or the ground. Twenty-five minutes over from Rochdale via Bury.