Setting out before a single brick is laid
Most brickwork that goes wrong went wrong at the setting out. We check the footing or slab is square and level, establish the gauge so course heights land where they need to at window cill and head, and set profiles before starting. It is unglamorous work, and it is the reason the finished wall reads straight from the pavement.
On extension and new-build work we coordinate with the rest of the site — DPC height, cavity trays, weep vents, wall ties at the right centres and insulation kept clean and dry in the cavity. Cutting corners on any of those shows up later as damp rather than as bad-looking brickwork, which is worse.
Matching brick to an existing Kent property
Kent throws up a lot of different brick. The Weald around Staplehurst, Marden and Cranbrook is full of soft reds and multi-stocks; north Kent and the London fringe lean towards yellow stocks; Victorian terraces in Bromley or Gravesend are a different animal again. We source to match the existing wall — colour, texture, size and, crucially, the mortar joint — so an extension or a rebuilt section reads as part of the house.
Where an exact match is not available we will say so up front and talk through the options, whether that is a deliberate contrast, a reclaimed brick, or moving the join to a natural break in the elevation.
Decorative and feature brickwork
Herringbone and basketweave panels, soldier courses, dentil and dog-tooth detailing, corbelled caps, plinth courses and gauged arches — this is the work we most enjoy and the work that lifts an ordinary wall. Feature panels need the setting out done in advance and the cuts made properly, not fudged at the end of a run.
Bond patterns are set to suit the wall. Stretcher bond for a standard cavity, Flemish or English bond where a solid wall or a boundary wall needs the extra weight and the traditional look, and header bond or stack bond where the design calls for it.
What this covers
- Cavity and solid wall construction
- Piers, arches, corbels and feature bonds
- Brick matching to existing elevations
- Blockwork, beam and block, and lintels
Where we do this work
We carry out brickwork & masonry throughout Kent — Maidstone, Staplehurst, Marden, Paddock Wood, Cranbrook, Tonbridge, Tunbridge Wells, Sevenoaks, Ashford, Canterbury and Dartford — and travel into Essex, London and Surrey. See the full list of areas we cover, or send us a postcode and we will confirm.
