Brick and stone cleaning, repointing and restoration
London's brick and stone, looked after properly.
A sooted terrace in Islington, a Portland stone portico in Mayfair, a mansion block in Kensington with mortar falling out of the joints. Describe the building once. One London specialist firm receives your enquiry and arranges to come and look.
Why this site exists
Most of London is built from two things.
Yellow London stock brick, fired with the city's own ash from about 1700 onwards, and Portland stone from Dorset, which gave the capital its great white fronts. Both take a hundred years of soot, traffic film and algae and both are easy to ruin with a pressure washer or a bag of cement.
Cleaning and repointing these walls is a trade in its own right. This site is for finding the right sort of firm to do it, and for understanding what good work looks like before anyone quotes you.
What people ask for
The four jobs
Brick cleaning
Soot, paint, pollution film and algae off London stock, red and gault brick. The method depends on the brick, and the wrong one scars it for good.
Read moreStone cleaning
Portland, Bath and York stone fronts, steps, porticos and cornices. Superheated water, poultices and trial patches explained in plain words.
Read moreRepointing and brick repair
Lime versus cement, tuck pointing, brick replacement and tinting. Why the mortar should always be softer than the brick.
Read moreGraffiti and paint removal
Taking paint and tags off masonry without leaving a ghost or a clean square that looks worse than the graffiti did.
Read moreHow it works
Three steps, no obligation
- 1
Describe the building
Street, what it is built from if you know, what is wrong, and a photo if you have one. Two minutes.
- 2
One firm receives it
Your enquiry goes to one established London specialist firm and nobody else. They contact you to arrange a look.
- 3
Trial patch, then a price
For cleaning, a good firm tests a discreet patch first. You see the result before you commit to anything.
A free enquiry service: one specialist firm, no charge to you. Who runs it and how it is paid for.
Managing agents, surveyors and freeholders
Blocks, estates and common parts
If you look after a mansion block, a converted terrace or a managed estate, the questions are different: section 20 consultation, scaffold hire, access licences, leaseholder communication and a method statement the conservation officer will accept. There is a page for you.
Listed or in a conservation area?
Check before anyone starts
Cleaning or substantially repointing a listed building can need consent, and doing it without is a criminal offence for the owner, not just the builder. What the rules actually say, and where to check.
Borough by borough
What your council says about its brick
Each London council writes down what it wants done to its fronts, and most people never read it. We did. Six area guides with the council's own words on cleaning, paint and pointing, plus consent, advice fees and scaffold licences.
Kensington & Chelsea
Stucco in stone colour, bare brick above, and a council that prosecuted over red and white stripes.
Read moreWestminster
Cubitt's stucco, Portland stone, and 'irreversible' damage from painted brick in Pimlico.
Read moreCamden
'Use lime based materials.' 'Should not be painted.' The council's own guidance.
Read moreWandsworth & Clapham
The clearest lime-mortar rule in London, and grants for taking paint off brick.
Read moreAlso: Islington and Hackney. All boroughs covered.
Ready when you are.
Tell us about the building and the problem. One specialist firm receives your enquiry and arranges a look.
Request a visit