Randall Brickwork

16/01/2025

Just finished extending Sherry, my partners driveway , so that she can park easier to the front of her house. Because her driveway is so narrow , it was difficult for her and next doors car to park alongside . So I removed her front wall , which had a mix of brick pavia and planting behind. This was all much
higher than the pavement, requiring a lot of digging out. After putting a new base in ,
I concreted new footings and using reclaimed pavia , bedded in new edgings. Using existing concrete edgings to seperate next doors . Finally we used cotswold flat shingle to finish and made good where new driveway edging met existing. 🙂

14/04/2024

After digging out and concreting the footings for the steps and stone pier and walls , the building began. I had put in timber profiles all around the big , soon to be resurrected sunken Rose garden. The lines being parallel to the big boundary wall and steps even though they are 70ft apart and all to be in line with the centre of doorway. After lines were strung out, I plumbed these lines down onto footings in mortar , to set out steps and piers , so that they will exactly match what was before and each other. These steps on this far side being completely new. Normaly I would build all the stone piers and walls first , but when the lime stone arrived , I realised 85% had no dressed ends on , which is what is needed as most of the work has pier corners, meaning smooth ends of stone are useless . I sorted everything from different sizes that could possibly used for under new steps which requires no good ends. Building the steps first is definitely not what I would normally do. After all this time, the stone for walls is arriving on Monday , hopefully correctthis time . The steps needed to rise the same and finish as part of a new path on the far side and part of existing patio on the near doorway side . this patio will be lifted later and relaid. The Lovely York stone
paving I lifted from paving in front of the stone garden house. Trying to find enough with same thickness edges undamaged for step fronts being really difficult. They were really heavy and bedded in mud. I eventually found enough
and proceeded. I have put a timber post in front of steps with marks on it for heights of steps and height of stone pier courses to follow. The piers tops need to work to be the same height above both the bottom and top steps on all piers. After re ordering stone again to have good ends for piers I have been told at last minute they will not be in 630mm lengths , which is what I needed for bond of piers , but in 200 and 300 mm lengths ! , I waited a month to hear this. I will now on Monday have to work a way of still bonding the piers with shorter lengths. Still much to do when the pier and wall stones stones arrive , but I'm looking forward to finishing this really interesting lime mortar job . The Rise garden will look amazing I'm sure when planted and paths laid out. I will most likely do a new circular feature also 🙂

24/12/2023

The 3rd Gable , I have never had to intersect 2 gables before. As I was unsure exactly what would be visable , I made sure where they joined in a valley was all face work, quite a bit of cutting ! 🙂

24/12/2023

Earlier in the year I built 3 brick gable corbels , this was 2 of them. I probably did about 75% of the stonework also. The extension was onto a Earlierwonderful Victorian brick farmhouse. Building the brick corbels which corbelled out each time required a lot of setting out and propping up temporarily. At the base you can see how I temporarily put in bricks to enable the work to be built up gables. The bottoms being pieced in after. Many battens were used to give different lines to ensure Brickwork went up and over gables harmoniously, either the tops being mitred . The air type bricks in the stone gables are actually Bee bricks built in for Bees 🙂

23/12/2023

I just recently finished repointing some lovely steps on a wonderful old Manor house. The weather was not ideal , but I managed to make them look a lot neater and they should now be more weather resistant. I'm looking forward to working there again one day , I really enjoyed doing it and talking to the nice lady that Iives there. 🙂

23/12/2023

Last week I built a stone planter around a tree to replace a wooden one. The stone , sand and everything were soaking wet and it rained a lot making it far more challenging. Because it was so wet I had to rake out all the mortar on the top course and replace with dryer to get a nice finish. The lower work having to be pointed the next day when it dried. I set the circle with a batten cut to length off the tree higher up where it was more regular and then plumbed down onto mortar
Spread onto the concrete below. The marks to delinate the circle being put into the wet mortar. Not a perfect way to mark a circle, but the tree trunk prevented putting in a pin and dropping a pre drilled batten with a pointed end over , the best way to get a perfect circle.
The stones were cut to enable them to be laid nicely to the curve without incurring big cross joints . Each course was set dry first the laid .The best way to lay them accurately I find is to lay evey fourth one all the way round in harmony level wise then go back and fill in stones behind.
The wonderful owl was carved out of the tree.
After Christmas I will build 2 more, 🙂

17/06/2023

Just finished a diagonal herringbone path for Sherry. Because her garden is narrow it seems perfect. She has lots of shrubs etc and the choice of path , which was hers , was a great idea. A 2 brick herringbone serpentine path with no edging may seem easy to do. Believe me it really is not , your eye is entirely caught by the shape and having no edging makes laying it quite a job. The pattern leads you to her office and Brandies aviary , if it was going across a wider path it would be easier , but I like the gentle way it meanders with no fixed edging for the grass and wild flowers to later join. First I put down a concrete base which enabled me to set everything dry , trying to serpentine the pattern and not end up with massive joints between bricks was the aim. So with a combination of shaing a little off some bricks on the sharper bits , opening joints slightly enabled me to swing one way and then the next. It rolls down and up with the slopes giving it added character . Finally the path was 2/3rds pointed with a mix of 70% sharp sand and 30% soft mortar mix , just damp so it could be compacted. Later the final part filled joints to the top, it was the finished with a soft brush to reveal the stone in the mortar . This I think is much more interesting to reveal the stone and inclusions in the sand as apposed to a smooth joint which can be a little bland . The bricks are lovely Victorian red reclaims which compliment Sherrys Victorian cottage 🙂

24/05/2023

Just finished a retaining wall on a lovely old Cottage garden, the cottage dates back to the 17th century. It turned out to be a bit of an epic job, in the end I worked late Friday , Sat and Sun to finish. Originally there were 3 rows of sleepers that I had to remove. The wall was to be 26 metres in length. Being a facing brick on the front with blockwork behind. The top finished with a nice paving slab as a coping , so its weather's and provides a seat ! . There were so many service pipes in the ground making it far more difficult. This meant having to use 10 different concrete lintels and having to stop start shuttering up either side of pipes.
They sometimes crossed the footing diagonally making lintelling harder. Though not high , the wall still required drainage pipes, expansion joints and had 5 different steps incorporated to match different heights . So lots of setting out. All was hand dug by me as usual 😃. The garden is a fantastic little oasis of hidden paths and lovely plants , now it can all be sorted around the new wall . The lady I worked for could not of been a nicer lady , though very busy herself , she looked after me.
We even shared a fascination of history and I put aside any little bits I found digging. We buried a little time capsule, a plastic bag under
the coping stone 🙂 .The colored beads that I set into the joint , were for her son, he used to play with them in the garden when young and they are everywhere, so now a few can be seen through the kitchen door forever 🙂

14/05/2023

Recently i just finished a curved step in Buckingham. Though only a small job , it required quite a bit of cutting. Setting the bricks out dry , tapering them along the length with a grinder to enable them to follow the curve. The picture showing the square and level was how I transfered the measurements of the curve to enable me to cut the slab accurately. The level edge represented one side of slab to be cut and was marked every 100 mm with a pencil. The square transferred horizontal lines from these marks onto the Brickwork , which i then measured across. I then made 100mm marks onto a slab to be cut and transferred the measurements as a dot , then free hand joined those dots with a pencil to represent the curve of the brickwork .
As usual it was raining ! 🙂. I was happy with the end result and more importantly so was the customer, who was really nice.

28/08/2022

23/04/2017

Rebuilding Buttress pier in Quainton in Bucks with lime mortar, much cutting 😃

16/04/2017

Rebuilding lime mortar work on a old house in Quainton

02/04/2017

Lime mortar repair to a bread oven on a 400 year old listed building in Quainton Bucks.

02/04/2017

Lime mortar repair to a huge crack in a wall at St Dunstans Church, Monks Risborogh. 2 years later.