Removal of plastic paint, mendip dust hard cement pointing, re-pointing with a lime putty

This particular job was on a property in Warminster in Wiltshire, the initial enquiry was of a damp problem on the ground and first floor. The survey consisted of a thermal imaging survey along with a damp survey to BRE Digest 245, this property had only 12 months before had damp proofing works carried out, unfortunately for the retired couple this works had failed and the contractor wouldn’t come back to fix the problem.
Thermal imaging and data collected from the mortar samples and hygroscopic salt analysis proved that there was 2 issues, one of the main problems was the penetrating dampness and rising damp. The consequence of the penetrating damp had caused a bearing end timber to decay and also a very small localised dry rot out break to the timber lintel. Complete Preservation prepared a specification for the remedial works, which consisted of the removal of the plastic paint to the gable wall, removal of the hard mendip dust cement pointing, this was re-pointed with a lime putty which will allow evaporation of any dampness by the sun and the wind. A timber repair was carried out to the bearing end timber and the lintel was replaced as necessary. The only problem with this job was the constant chatting to all the people that walked past this property on there way into town, everybody liked to comment on the progress of the works and were mesmerised by the finish and commented on beautiful a wall could look.