Working on Newport's older buildings
Newport grew quickly in the nineteenth century around its docks and the coal and iron trade, and most of its older housing dates from that boom. Streets of Victorian and Edwardian terraces run up from the river through Maindee, Pillgwenlly and Baneswell — solid-wall houses of brick and local stone, originally plastered inside with lime and pointed with lime mortar. The Transporter Bridge era left the city a stock of confident civic and commercial buildings, and around the edges sit much older village cores: Caerleon with its Roman heritage, Malpas and Bassaleg among them, plus stone farmhouses and cottages scattered through the lanes towards Usk and the Monmouthshire border.
The most common problem we find in these buildings is not age but later intervention. Terraces re-rendered in hard cement stop shedding moisture the way they were designed to; the render cracks, water gets behind it, and the wall stays wet. Inside, gypsum skims over old lime backgrounds trap that moisture at the surface, blow off in patches and leave salts blooming through decoration. Stone farmhouses fare worst of all when repointed in cement, because the mortar is harder than the stone and forces every drop of water through the masonry itself. Putting lime back — plaster, render and pointing — is usually the lasting fix.
What we do in Newport
- Lime plastering — three-coat work, haired plaster on lath, and repair of original ceilings and walls
- Lime rendering — breathable external renders on stone, brick and rubble walls
- Lime pointing — raking out failed cement and repointing in an appropriate lime mortar
- Limecrete floors — breathable insulated floor slabs to replace failed or damp solid floors
- Full renovation of period and listed buildings, managed from strip-out to decoration
Listed buildings and conservation areas around Newport
Newport has a number of designated conservation areas and a spread of listed buildings, from town-centre commercial frontages to rural churches and farmhouses. Caerleon in particular is dense with protected fabric, sitting as it does on nationally significant Roman remains. Works that affect the character of a listed building normally need listed building consent from Newport City Council, and like-for-like lime repair is usually what conservation officers expect to see specified. We work in lime as standard, so our repairs sit comfortably within those requirements, and we are happy to describe proposed materials and methods in whatever detail an application needs.
Nearby areas we also cover
From Newport we regularly work in Caerleon, Cwmbran, Pontypool, Usk, Magor, Caldicot and Chepstow, and across the villages of rural Monmouthshire up towards Abergavenny's side of the county. Being local, small repairs and single rooms are as practical for us here as full renovations.