There was a small sandstone turret to be raked out and pointed with hydraulic lime mortar. The picture below shows it fully raked out.
This one shows it fully pointed.
Click any of the pictures to enlarge. Click again to shrink.
This work was carried out in 2018 and involved lots of general maintenance work.
The first task was to do quite a lot of raking out, followed by hydraulic lime pointing. This was unusually difficult and time consuming due to the concave flutings that run all the way down the spire.
All of the timber louvre windows were prepared and painted.
A complete and deep rake out, and subsequent full repoint with hydraulic lime mortar, of the entire spire of an Aberdeenshire Church.
This shot shows a pointed and finished horizontal bed above, a raked out vertical joint (note the depth achieved), and newly pointed and unfinished lime (it ends up smooth like the lime above).
Brand new hydraulic lime pointing. The spire was raked out before we pointed it (the existing cement mortar was removed).
This 2015 job involved stabilisation of the head of the spire followed by full rake out and repointing.
We also carried out more minor tasks like painting the finial and fitting mesh to louvre windows to prevent birds getting in and making a mess of the inside.
We fitted four large and strong copper cramps to stabilise the head of the spire. This was the clients favoured approach as the Church could not afford a full rebuild. This repair will keep the spire stable for a great many years to come (it will see all of us out).
