The Lodge (Hartley)

The Lodge ~ Hartley, Plymouth.

Client : Private.

The Lodge is a character property situated in the Hartley area of Plymouth. A vehicle had hit one of the gate pillars leading into the property and we were asked to put it right.

The pillar had been constructed in a mixture of granite, slate, limestone and red brick. The first task was to get the pillar prepared and set all the stone and brick aside to be re-used.

The work soon got underway to build it back up again.

One particular stone was a piece of granite that was roughly two feet square and one foot high. Stones such as these are built into pillars to hang heavy iron gates off. This stone was cleaned up and prepared to go back into the pillar.

We took the pillar up to the height were the stone was going to be sat.

When that was up, a lorry with a block grab came in and lifted the stone into position for us.

More stonework was built on top to bring the pillar up to the same height as the opposite pillar.

Our next task was to set up a temporary timber box shutter on the very top of the pillar for us to cast a new concrete pier cap in-situ.

This was held in place using sash clamps.

The box shutter was treated with mould oil and the concrete was then placed in.

The concrete was built up to form an apex and finished off with a steel trowel.

After a few days the timber box shutter was removed.

The original slate name plaque was fixed back onto the pillar.

Finally we repaired the wall that joined into the back of the pillar. A new slate sill was put in and some rendering carried out to tidy it all up.

A traditional lime mortar was used to re-build this pillar.