Frost bite - lime mortar damage
The last few nights and days were incredibly cold, with temperatures around -3 degrees Celsius, but a wind chill factor that took it much lower than that.
So the lime mortar has taken quite a hit. We thought we'd wrapped everything up, but it turns out not thoroughly enough. The parts of the wall that were covered by two layers of hessian and tarpaulin were mainly ok, but the parts where the cold wind got under are now flaking and coming away.
I have yet to find out about the options we have: whether it can be re-pointed, or if it has to be taken apart. (Ed. - the answer appears to be 're-point', which is a relief.)
One is a Diamond Jubilee memorial brick, with the writing: ERII MMXII (Elizabeth Regina 2012).
So the lime mortar has taken quite a hit. We thought we'd wrapped everything up, but it turns out not thoroughly enough. The parts of the wall that were covered by two layers of hessian and tarpaulin were mainly ok, but the parts where the cold wind got under are now flaking and coming away.
I have yet to find out about the options we have: whether it can be re-pointed, or if it has to be taken apart. (Ed. - the answer appears to be 're-point', which is a relief.)
So we got on with other things: Lenny and I drove in convoy to HG Matthews, to pick up another couple of hundred lovely new Luton Grey bricks. The staff were, as before, absolutely great. They still had our samples, so they knew which shades we needed, and helped us to distribute the bricks between our cars, to spread the weight.
Lenny 'hodded' them in to the back garden (that means he carries 12 bricks at a time with his carrying stick thingy that I don't dare to use). One brick weighs about 2.6kg - you do the maths.
I can carry about five at a time in my arms (ed. - I can carry four)...
Lenny made a good cut next to the back wall of the lean-to, so that he could take the back bit of concrete away. It'll be replaced by a double-skin brick wall.
The steps are sort-of taking shape.
And: we took out the first third of the 'landing strip' - the straight, narrow, boring concrete garden path. It came away quite easily with the borrowed Hilti (Konni loves the Hilti). I did say to Lenny that it felt incredibly light and was easy to work with. However, it somehow became heavier and heavier as I went along. :-)
At the end we made sure that the uncovered bits were securely wrapped up.
Taking quite drastic measures...
Ah, and I almost forgot. We were given some wonderful presents by H G Matthews: two brick 'specials'.
One is a Diamond Jubilee memorial brick, with the writing: ERII MMXII (Elizabeth Regina 2012).
And the other is a 2012 brick. We could put it into our wall, not that we started to build it in 2012, but it sure was planned then.
