Restoration & Renovation
RESTORE YOUR BUILDING
USING A TEAM OF PROFESSIONAL BUILDERS
RESTORE, CONSERVE OR RENOVATE?
The word “restore” is very contentious in conservation circles. If you replace everything, does the item you are conserving/restoring cease to be period? The relevance to this for building stock is simple.
Old buildings look wonderful, because they have worn and aged over the years. Time builds up a genuine patina that is not easy to replicate. If you were to replace every damaged brick on an old building and replace all the stone cills and details, you would end up with something that looked like a major house builder’s Victorian pastiche.
OUR APPROACH
At London Building Renovation we have developed a way of working that aims to repair all structural work but leaves it looking as if no work has taken place. This ethos runs deep through the business.
With regards to fitting of new details, wherever possible we “age” them; the exception to this may be fitting of new items where there is no alternative but to replace, such as a stone sill or a string course.
Occasionally, where properties have lost a large part of detailing in total, there is no alternative but to replace with new. In such cases, we feel that it is best not to try and hide a complete replacement, our belief is that a new piece of stone can sit quite comfortably beside old brickwork.
SALVAGE OF BRICKWORK
In buildings where lime has been used as a mortar, it is possible to salvage many, perhaps all bricks.
Where cement has been used, it is usually impossible to save any. We have the address of many reclaim yards and access to many hundreds of brick colours and sizes.
Our address book ranges from Foundries to Copper workers, from stone masons to French polishers. If you are serious about restoring all your building or just a small part, then we would be well placed to advise you. We are experienced in…
We are experienced in…
- Restoration and renovation of many types of period property, but especially 19th and early 20th century
- Brick cleaning, where paint and render has been applied
- Brick laying with traditional lime mortar
- Brick matching
- Brick tinting
- Brick restoration
- Brick arches and formers
- Chimney repairs – restoration and rebuilding
- Tuck Pointing
Restoring original window openings - Brick sash openings
- Stone work, including new sills, string courses, steps from either re-constituted or natural stone
- Heritage painting and decoration
- Multiple layer paint stripping to reveal detail
- Ornate plasterwork
- Resin repairs
- Lime pointing
- Lime rendering
- Lime washing
- Cast iron balustrade overhaul or replacement
- Cast iron air vents
- Cast iron drain covers
- Sash window replacements and overhauling
- Terracotta architectural parts
- Lead working
- Traditional wood paneling
- Traditional slate roofing
- Cornice repairs and reshaping
- Ornate ironworks
- Lifting and re-bedding of existing cut stone
- Laying of uneven Yorkstone slabs (we have a great deal of experience with Yorkstone)
- Supply and fit both reclaim and architectural stone detail (cills, heads, quoins, etc.)
- Design and installation of reconstituted and fresh stone architectural details.
EXTERIOR – OTHER
- Chimney rebuilds including calculation of weight to opening ratio.
- Lead flashing rebedding on renewalsLead welding and bossing
- Flat lead rooves and dormers
MASONRY – STONE
- Trained and registered in use of Thermatech stone cleaning
MASONRY – BRICK AND RENDER
- Lime plastering – internal and external
- Lime bricklaying and pointing
- Tuck pointing and natural pigment lime matching
- Brick refacing with Lithomex
- Removal and turning of bricks (when face is blown)
- Arch rebuilds – thin join and keystone
- Paint and render – removal from brickwork
CONSTRUCTION SERVICES
- Joinery/repaircare
- Buying services for ….
- Basement renovation
- Sustainable damp solutions