Members’ letters and legal matters.


Here we publish a selection of some of the recent correspondence received by our team. We always love to hear from you, so if you have any queries, comments or suggestions please get in touch via post or email. By email: editor@lpoc.co.uk By post: LPOC, Lower Dane, Hartlip, Kent ME9 7TE


A DIFFICULT CHOICES APOTROPAIC MARKS


Members have been sending in photographs of their witches’ marks. If you have any do photograph them and send them in. Claire from Essex sent in this photograph of a daisy wheel mark and explained that it only became visible after she had the beams micro stripped of their black paint. The cottage was built in the 1700s and the mark was found just underneath a windowsill.


38 Listed Heritage Magazine January/February 2020


I have had two tradesmen come out to quote for the restoration work of the house but they have recommended completely different approaches. One has said that the non-breathable paint must be removed. He also says the render can be removed to put the house back to being all brick as it originally was but I am concerned about how much damage there will be to the brickwork/render. If I do keep the render he says the rather large cracks can be repaired. The other has said that the paint should be left on but the brickwork should be re-pointed. He says that the brickwork does not need to breathe, only the mortar does. I am dubious about that. He would not repair the cracks to the render, he would remove it and re-render the whole gable ends. What do you think is best? Do you know of anyone you can recommend to remove the paint and is there a particular method that should be used?


t LPOC, our dedicated team of experts are here to provide our members with expert guidance on all matters relating to listed property ownership including listed building consent, VAT, insurance


Removal of the non-breathable paint is certainly ideal if the opportunity arises and if cost permits. However, sometimes the more pragmatic approach is to only do the paint removal if it is causing problems (i.e. damp) but if not, just to repair and apply another coat.


You need to be aware that any repairs to cracks in render tend to re-appear over time, depending on the nature of the render and the cause of the cracking. With the best will in the world you might expect the cracks to reappear after several years. You may end up repairing them with each repainting cycle.


A properly specified new render, on the other hand, would be much less likely to crack as it could be designed to be softer and more flexible than the existing one. It could also be reinforced if there are inherent lines of weakness within the structure of the building.


Mortar joints are designed to do the majority of the breathing in any wall. They are always more porous than the brickwork so they act as a wick to encourage moisture to evaporate. The ideal solution would be to strip paint from the bricks as well as the joints but repointing would go a long way to achieving breathability in the wall as a whole.


If the paint is a modern masonry paint then Thermatech is a good system for paint removal. It uses super-heated steam at 150 degrees C to remove the paint.


I hope this helps you to make a more informed choice.


Peter Bell BA MA DPD (Bldg Cons) IHBC LPOC Conservation Advisor


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