flockandroll

Something infront and below it, like trees or the roofs of old stone terraced cottages or an old woolen mill (not just found in towns) 

e.g. Cromford Mill or another one in the Peak District 

Are there any recommendations for an updated equivalent to "Preserved BR Diesel and Electric Traction Handbook" - Howard Johnston (1987), please? 

This is currently my eight year old's favourite book, but he is aware it is 33 years old. 

Thanks 

2 hours ago, chris p bacon said:

touching the brick at the bottom it is 3"+ out of plumb over that measurement

Just shows how buildings move over time, or was it even vertical when built?

Thank you chris p bacon, great advice and very helpful, pictures also.

(They also show you work to a very high standard)

I bought lime already mixed with sand that just needs water adding. Yes it's a bit more expensive but one less variable for me to worry about and should be less dusty for me.

Great tip about soaking the brick in a bucket of water.

Just putting the mortar on the bottom, then pointing the perps and top joint should help me be a lot tidier, thanks for that.

To get the new mortar to fix / bind / stick to the old, is it just wet the old, push in the new, and let some time pass... (with cement mortar I cheat and paint watery cement onto the old after wetting and before adding the new)

So I added water to the lime mortar and mixed. Aiming for something 'more doughy than a cement mortar' (is that right?). This was tricky, as due to the chemistry, if you leave it, it goes to crumbly granules, but if you squash it, it goes putty like.

Added plenty of water to brickwork and replacement brick. Added the mortar to the hole and to the brick. Added the brick. It all went went wrong  , I knocked brick in too far! Went inside and using a 3 foot piece of timber laid across the brickwork, knocked it back. Scrapped lime mortar off the floor back into my bucket. 

Back outside pointed/ repointed brick. Ran out of mortar, having dropped a lot, and some of it being too muddy to recycle into the bucket. Should I be using one of those things, what do you call them? Bit like a cake board with a handle underneath - I do have one.

Anyway, even by my standards it looks awful, but it's my first go with lime mortar. 

Am I supposed to give it a stiff brushing in a few hours? Or tomorrow? Or did I just imagine that?

Here is the brick from outside and in. Like I said, it doesn't look very attractive snd I ran out of mortar, will do some more tomorrow...

Thanks for reading and any feedback

I picked this brick to try first: not too high, not too low, just one by itself. 

However some of the most had gone, what was left was in good condition, and took more effort than I expected to get out (I will have muscles by the end of this!). Meanwhile, a nearby upright bit crumbled and feel out.

Here is the hole and the removed brick:

Less rain today!

I am kitted out thanks to Screwfix, also wellies.

Unable to get next door today. Tomorrow...

(oh, and the photo has rotated 180 °)

15 minutes ago, hayfield said:

... if you can control the run off from the roofs half the battle is won.

Intend to redirect their downpipe with their permission, and next year replace fascia and add a gutter to my garage on this side. 

Will probably build a mini wall to keep water away from the area where their foundation almost butt's up to and towers over mine. 

59 minutes ago, chris p bacon said:

 

That'll be fine, keep the slabs above the adjacent soil level to stop any water run off taking it into the gravel.

Thank you, yes. 

Been pouring with rain here for best part of five hours, and due to keep it up for longer, so will discover tomorrow what has washed into the trench

You can also see how the foundations of the neighbour's garage is hard up against my garage, and where their downpipe empties out. 

The pink horizontal line is level of the damp proof course, with the top of the concrete floor about an inch lower 

OK, in a few days I'm collecting two bags of natural hydraulic lime mortar mix, the 3.5 ratio. I was going to get a bag of the 5 to repoint the foundations, but it's out of stock for some time. 

Have dug a trench down below the damp proof course and the top of the concrete floor to expose the top two layers of bricks of the actual foundations. This is a trench about 35cm deep into the soil, and has reached pretty much pure clay. 

My intention is to line the soil side of the trench with paving slabs and fill to just below floor level with 20mm gravel. Does this sound alright? 

Should there also be pea gravel? I'm thinking that if I dig any deeper it will just encourage water/moisture to come and of the clay and just sit there against the bricks. 

I will add some pictures in the next post. Thanks.

It is a south facing wall so that should help. 

I think I will end up buying one of these,

https://www.lincolnshirelime.co.uk/lime-green-chalk-coloured-natural-hydraulic-lime-mortar-nhl-35-25kg-159-p.asp

because of ease of getting it, and I'm a slow worker and it seems like It will soon be too cold to use without covering up from the weather, and seems to go off very quickly once you open a bag, and only keeps in an unopened bag for a few months. I say "seems" as different websites seem to say different even for the same product...

If I use up all of the one bag by the end of October I will be pleased with my progress to be honest. Then carry on in the spring / summer. 

Thanks! 

I have a pair of 'industrial' Wellingtons I bought when I had to go with students to a farm, hope they will be OK, especially if I wash them off afterwards. 

Thanks Chris P Bacon, I have a trowel set. The proper chisel will be handy to have, but where do I source lime? The local Wickes don't seem to have it. 

I got some matching bricks off the side neighbour when he did alterations to his house. 

25 minutes ago, The Stationmaster said:

 

In places I suspect teh answer to how many you take out at a time might be answered for you by what the other bricks decide to do once you take a couple out.

Ha! Hope it's not like Jenga... 

I have already removed the small tree, started repointing and digging out the soil to below inside floor level. In due course I will dig out the soil even lower and fill with gravel / shingle. And divert the water that flows off the neighbour's garage down a downpipe and out onto the soil to flow towards my garage / shed, or even make them a mini soakaway. 

Meanwhile, I guess the spalling bricks have to be replaced. 

Grateful for any advice please:

All of them or just the really bad ones? 

Do I just driil and chisel through the mortar and wiggle them out? Or in? 

Is it best to replace one at a time, or where there are several above each other, can they safely all come out at once? 

Further along there are several in a horizontal line where it will have to be one at a time. 

Thanks for reading this long message and any replies. 

(This is the side facing my rear neighbour's. On the long side facing me I removed the gravel down below the inside floor level, and so far this autumn no sign of damp on that side) 

Further advice re replacing spalling bricks please:

In December 2019 I received an email from Scalelink that said 

"Mr. Shinohara has now sold his business to another Japanese toy manufacturer who will begin production in the 2nd quarter of 2020.

We will be the UK stockists once items become available again... 

...with the exception of 4 or 5 Shinohara products, we have reasonably good stocks available.

For 00/H0, we have Code 100, Code 83, Code 83 DCC-friendly, Code 70 + SN3, H0/H0n3, H0n3, H0n2.5 (009), H0m and N (Code70 & Code 60) are also in stock" 

So it seems, subject to covid, it should be back. 

On 01/10/2020 at 16:32, Pacific231G said:

According to American sources,  Shinohara's owners retired in 2018... 

 

 

25 minutes ago, 34theletterbetweenB&D said:

I know there was a 'Bunny Hop' about that time as we have a photo of a scandalous great-aunt performing it. (Imagine, she went to Paris and danced in cabaret. Not what girls raised in Plymouth Brethren families were supposed to do.)

Really interesting, thank you!