"Peter Taylor" wrote in message
...
Rickard Dwiggery wrote
I've just got quoted £1500 for
full weather proof pointing (think that's what it's called) or half that
for
non-weather proof. It's all to do with the shape of the joints I
believe
and weather proof joints take longer.

Rick

Sounds like you're in danger of being conned here Rick. They are probably
talking about "weathered and struck" pointing, where the mortar is built
out
proud of the surface of the brickwork and the bottom edge is struck off
with a
tool called a "Frenchman" along a straight edge board. The term
"weathered"
refers to the sloping face, but in fact it's no more weather-proof than
any
other style of pointing (except the dreaded recessed joint) - and in some
cases
it can actually cause even more damage, as it sheds water onto the bricks
instead of allowing it to soak in and dry out again. Often it looks a
mess,
especially when it covers the top edge of the brick below and the joints
end up
about 1" wide. And it doesn't take twice as long to do, so there is no
justification for charging twice as much.

The best advice is to stick with the original pointing style - it's most
probably ordinary flush pointing, which is perfectly good enough.



Hmmmm thanks for the info Peter. The £1500 I should have made clear was
for the whole front of my house, not the chimney. When I heard the quote I
did think this was steep and was going to go somewhere else. Then the bloke
phoned me today and explained exactly what he would need to do...including
using some coloured dye to make some of the old bricks look tidyer.

He did say to just 'fill in the gaps' would be half the price but it
wouldn't be done right that way.

Is £1500 still expensive for that?

Regards

Rick