Bricklayer in East London
Brickwork for extensions, garden and boundary walls, chimneys, piers and repairs across East London. Bricks matched to the house, mortar matched to the wall, and the boundary questions sorted first.
Hiring a bricklayer in East London: match the brick, match the mortar
A bricklayer in East London spends a lot of the job matching what is already there. Older Victorian terraces are often in yellow London stock brick. The Becontree estate, built by the London County Council in the 1920s and 1930s, is red brick or render under tiled roofs. Put a new wall next to either with the wrong brick or the wrong mortar and it shows for decades. We are BXC Developments, based in Barking, and brickwork runs through our extensions, lofts and repairs.
The mortar matters as much as the brick. Historic England's guidance on repointing says unsuitable repointing is among the most common causes of damage to older buildings. Walls built in soft lime mortar need a mortar that is softer than the brick, so moisture can leave through the joints. Point them in a hard cement mix and the water goes out through the brick faces instead, which is how you get crumbling, flaking bricks. So before we repoint an older house, we check what the wall was built with.
New walls next to old. On an extension, the outer leaf is facing brick chosen to match the house, the inner leaf is usually block, and the new work is tied into the old so the two do not crack apart at the join. Older bricks are often a different size from today's metric brick, which is why a match sometimes means reclaimed stock rather than new. Bes is a Member of the Chartered Institute of Building (MCIOB) and AssocRICS, and he looks at the detail at the join, not only the face.
Walls on the boundary. Building a new wall on the line between your land and a neighbour's needs a Party Wall Act notice at least one month before work starts. If your neighbour does not agree in writing within 14 days, the wall has to go wholly on your side. Front walls in conservation areas can need permission too: in Havering, Cranham conservation area has an Article 4 direction covering gates, walls and fences, and demolition in Barking and Dagenham's conservation areas can need consent.
We do not publish brickwork rates, because published per-brick and day rates for London vary too widely to be useful. You get a written, itemised quote once we have seen the wall. For building work that includes brickwork, see our house extensions in East London and our roofing in East London, which covers chimney stacks.
Brickwork we take on as bricklayers in East London
Extension and loft brickwork
Cavity walls with a facing brick outer leaf and a block inner leaf, wall ties, cavity trays and lintels over openings, and the new work tied into the existing house. Gable walls for hip-to-gable lofts are built to match the brick below, so the conversion looks as though it was always there.
Brick matching
We match colour, texture and size, and the bond pattern the house was built in. Older bricks are often larger than today's 65 millimetre metric brick, so we measure before we order. Where no new brick matches, we source reclaimed stock, and we lay a sample panel for you to approve before the wall goes up.
Repointing
Joints raked out carefully, by hand where the bricks are soft, then repointed in a mortar suited to the wall: lime on older solid walls, as Historic England's guidance recommends, and a matched mix on newer ones. The joint profile is matched too, because a flush joint next to a recessed one stands out across the street.
Garden and boundary walls
Foundations dug to suit the ground, then walls built with piers and copings so they stand up to frost and the weight of a gate. Permitted development allows walls up to 1 metre next to a road and 2 metres elsewhere. We check conservation area rules and the party wall position before anything is built.
Chimney stacks and piers
Stacks rebuilt above the roof line, repointed or taken down where a chimney is no longer used, and gate piers rebuilt where they have leaned or cracked. On a terrace the stack is often shared, so we speak to next door and work out who owns which part before anyone lifts a trowel.
Cracks and structural repairs
We find the cause before we fill the crack: a leaking drain, clay shrinking near a tree, a failed lintel or rusting wall ties. Then the right repair, from rebuilding a section to stitching it with helical bars, with an engineer involved where the movement needs one. Filling a crack without fixing the cause only brings it back.
Bricklaying and brickwork questions from East London
How do you match bricks on an older East London house?
Should my house be repointed in lime mortar?
Do I need planning permission for a garden wall?
Do I need a party wall notice to build a wall on the boundary?
What causes cracks in brickwork in London?
How much does a bricklayer cost in East London?
Can you rebuild a chimney stack on a terraced house?
Bricklayer in East London, and across Luton, Dunstable, Hertfordshire and Manchester.
Based in Barking, working across all of these towns and villages. Your area not listed? Just ask, we travel for the right project.
- Barking
- Dagenham
- Ilford
- Romford
- Hornchurch and Upminster
- East Ham
- Rainham
- Chadwell Heath
- Barking and Dagenham
- Havering
- Redbridge
- Newham
- Luton
- Dunstable
- Houghton Regis
- Caddington
- Slip End
- Streatley
- Barton-le-Clay
- Toddington
- Leighton Buzzard
- Hertfordshire
- Harpenden
- St Albans
- Hitchin
- Stevenage
- Hemel Hempstead
- Welwyn Garden City
- Watford
- London
- Barnet
- Harrow
- Enfield
- Brent
- Manchester
- Stockport
- Cheadle
- Salford
- Trafford
- Altrincham
Need a bricklayer in East London?
Tell us about the wall. We will come and look, then quote in writing, free.
