The Restoration - Week Eight

This week, all the attention has been on the lower half of the west stone wall. This has been raked out and repointed ahead of the grouting to fill the voids within the wall. The first 2 tons of lime grout was delivered this week and is stored, ready for use.

The Hessian is off the upper half of the west wall and it looks terrific

The lower south west corner was next for repointing and once the mortar was raked out its also become clear that the brickwork on this corner will need some rebuilding.

Having raked out the old mortar, Stuart and Jack start repointing the first section of the lower west wall

As you can see in the photo below, the brickwork in the foreground will need some rebuilding work.

Within a couple of days this section is repointed, just leaving the brickwork on the corner to be repaired.

Next the lower north west corner is raked out and repointing can start here too. In this area like most others on this wall, some stones fell out after the render came off, leaving holes or revealing voids. These were repaired and filled as the repointing progressed.

The NE corner raked out. The brickwork on this end is in better shape.

The boys start to repoint this section having reset a few stones and filled some voids

After less than 2 hours good progress has been made on the repointing. Some of the holes still to be filled are clearly visible
In the photo below.

Some of the holes are clearly visible. These will be filled with stone and then pointed.

On the west wall this now leaves one small section in the lower centre of the wall to be repaired before the spiro-ties can be inserted and grouting can begin. This is an area between the two brick buttresses where the render is still intact. It has a noticeable large bulge and is rather unstable. This will be tackled by the mason who we hope will be on site next week.

In other news........... our triple glazed, linseed oil painted windows from Williams Homes of Bala, will be arriving on Monday!!!! Having spent the last 8 weeks with eventually 6 windows removed and plastic sheets in their place, this moment cannot come too soon! Watch this space!!