Traditional Skills and Materials

Our tradesmen tend to be older than the average as the skills needed in the building and conversion of historic buildings only comes with years of experience. Our 'younger' tradesmen are in their thirties and forties and have been traditionally apprentice trained. One of the photographs on the site shows a retaining wall constructed from tiered and battered dry stone walling which gives testament to the skills we have available.

Wherever possible we retain or reuse existing material on site for the main structure, external stonework, main roof trusses and purlins, support beams and decorative features. When building in stone we use traditional lime mortars which have been used in building construction since the Romans, they are ideal for both historic building restoration work and new build. These mortars are much more breathable and flexible than the cement based mortars, yet are strong enough for all new build. Lime mortars require less energy in production and absorb carbon dioxide in curing.When we start a new site we have the old mortar analysed to try and get as near a match as possible.

Stone deterioration in old buildings is often caused by being repointed with cement based mortar which causes the structure to breathe through the stone rather than the joint and subsequently erode.