Restoration masonry · Wetherby Green · the drawing-first yard, since 1994
The old wall was right. We just keep the notes.
Ashlar & Vellum restores brick and stone from the drawing outward — every elevation surveyed, every mortar chip matched, every course recorded before a chisel is lifted. Lime where the wall wants lime; anchors where the building asks for stone.
(555) 507-3346 · surveys@ashlarvellum.example · 1,760 elevations recorded, repointed and warranted
The yard takes one restoration at a time and finishes it before the next begins — the waiting list runs six weeks, and every client so far has said the wall was worth the calendar.
Services
The three crafts
01
Lime repointing, recorded
The elevation is photographed course by course, joints raked by hand to twice their width, and flushed full in two passes with NHL 3.5 matched to the chip from your wall — NHL 5 at parapets and copings. When we leave you get the survey sheet: every joint accounted for, in the wall and on paper.
02
Stone repair & replacement
Weathered ashlar cut back and Dutchmen inserted where the arris has gone; missing units replaced from quarry and salvage matches approved wet, in daylight, beside the wall. Beds and joints in lime; nothing ground, nothing painted, nothing pretended.
03
Anchored veneer & arches
Stone hung on stainless Z-anchors at sixteen inches on centre over a two-layer barrier, flashed and wept at the base; arches rebuilt on timber centering with numbered voussoirs and the keystone last. The hardware is the wall; the stone is its good coat.
Their survey sheet is a proper document — every course drawn, every chip labelled, the lime named and its reason given. I have filed worse from conservation officers.
Since 1994
The record, in figures
Every elevation we touch becomes a numbered sheet in the yard archive — the figures below are counted from those sheets, not estimated from memory.
Recent restorations
The field notes
Six restorations from the Green and the parishes beyond — chosen because each sheet tells a different story. The addresses are shared with the survey; the owners insist on it.
How it goes
Survey to sheet
The same sequence on every job — the only variable is your project.
Visit one
The survey
The elevation is photographed, measured and drawn; a mortar chip leaves an inconspicuous joint and is matched. You receive the sheet and a written square-foot number, held sixty days.
Week 1
Rake & record
Scaffolding up, sheets down, joints raked by hand to twice their width and vacuumed, depth verified joint by joint. Every raked course is ticked off on the sheet as it is done — the wall and the record agree, or we stop.
Weeks 2–4
Point & repair
NHL lime flushed in two passes, Dutchmen inserted where the arris has gone, struck to the original profile and brushed at leather-hard so the joint reads old from across the street.
Week 6
Cure & archive
Carbonation finishes under mist and covers; the flue or crown is draw-tested where there is one. The sheet is signed, archived in the yard and copied to you — the wall’s biography, countersigned.
Lime, paper, patience
Asked at every first meeting
Why keep sheets at all?
Because a wall that has been recorded can be argued with honestly. When a joint fails in 2041, the sheet says what was raked, what was pointed, which lime and why — the repair starts from evidence instead of archaeology. Our clients’ buyers’ surveyors ask for them by name now.
Lime or portland — honestly?
In a wall built before 1930, lime, and not as a preference: lime is softer than the brick and sacrificial, weathering out so the brick does not. Portland is stronger than old brick, so winter breaks the brick to save the mortar. We keep portland for the new-build sills we occasionally cut, and nowhere near a historic elevation.
How long is the waiting list?
Six weeks at present, one restoration at a time. We would rather hand you an honest date than a hopeful one — the wall has waited a century and is not in a hurry, and a rushed rake is the one wound it will not forgive.
What does a survey cost?
Nothing, within thirty miles of the Green. Beyond that, mileage and a fair day rate — and the sheet is yours whatever you decide about the work. We have watched competitors quote off our sheets for years; we take it as the compliment it is.
Twenty-five years, sheet-backed
If a joint we pointed fails or a repair we made reads wrong inside twenty-five years, we return and correct it free — the sheet tells us exactly what was done, which is why the promise can be this plain.
surveys@ashlarvellum.example · Wetherby Green
Send us the wall’s story.
Year built, what is failing, and a photo if you can manage one. The survey visit brings the chip kit and the first sheet; the written number follows within the week.