BricklayerandBrickworkSpecialistinNewMilton
New Milton stands on sand and gravel with the Barton Clay underneath, and takes its weather straight off Christchurch Bay. We look at both before we put a price on your wall.
- Free, no-obligation quotation on every job
- NVQ Level 2 qualified, CSCS carded
- 5-year workmanship guarantee
- NVQ Level 2Diploma in Bricklaying
- CSCSCarded tradesman
- Up to £1mPublic liability cover
- 5 yearsWorkmanship guarantee
What brickwork is up against here
Sand and gravel underneath, a salt wind on top
You can read New Milton's ground off the cliff face at Barton on Sea: Pleistocene plateau gravel on top, the Barton Sands below it, and the Barton Clay underneath that. The sequence is not uniform across the whole town, and most gardens carry imported topsoil over whatever is actually down there, so we dig down and look rather than assume a depth. Then there is the weather. South-westerlies come in off Christchurch Bay carrying salt, and drive rain into a seaward face all winter, so the mortar, the coping and the brick we specify have to suit an exposed coastal wall rather than a sheltered garden inland.
- Footings taken down to what is actually under the wall, gravel or clay
- A mortar mix chosen for a wet, salty, wind-driven face
- Copings and weatherings that throw water clear, because a soaked wall is what frost breaks
JFE Brickwork
3 New Merrifield, Wimborne, Dorset, BH21 7AL
Brickwork we take on in New Milton
Wall building is the bulk of it, with repointing, brick repairs and patios keeping us busy the rest of the time. Each one below says what that job usually means in a town on this stretch of coast.
Brick and garden walls
Garden wall buildingOn a seaward plot the coping and the mortar matter as much as the brick.
Driveway wallsWide bungalow plots suit a low wall and piers better than a fence the sea wind keeps flattening.
Retaining wallsGround that falls away towards the coast or a valley needs drainage behind the wall, not just bricks in front of it.
Decorative brickworkFlemish bond and the skilled patterns that give a front wall something the rest of the road has not got.
Brick piers and gate postsPiers dug past the topsoil and into the gravel, so they stay plumb in exposed positions.
Brick stepsFront gardens that drop towards the sea end up with steps, and steps are where the treads work loose.
Brick plantersRaised brick beds hold a border together on ground this sandy and free-draining.
EV charger wallsA short brick wall to mount a home charger on where an open bungalow drive gives you nothing to fix to.
Repointing and brickwork repairs
Brickwork repointingSalt-laden rain scours a south-westerly face first, so that side usually goes before the rest.
Brickwork repairsFrost takes hold in brickwork that has been soaked all winter by wind off the bay.
Brick matchingMost of the town is interwar and post-war brick, which is a match we have to hunt for rather than order.
Chimney repointing and repairsA stack on this coast stands in the weather with nothing in front of it, and the pointing shows it.
Blocking up doorways and windowsBungalow alterations leave openings that need bricking up to match what is already on the wall.
Wall tie replacementA town largely built in cavity work from the 1930s on, which is the age ties start to corrode.
Extension brickwork
Footings and foundationsDepth follows what is under you, and here that can be gravel or it can be shrinkable clay.
Cavity and structural wallsOn an exposed wall the cavity detailing keeps the weather out, not the thickness of the brick.
Subcontract bricklayingBricklaying for a builder running a domestic extension or a bungalow conversion.
Here is how a job runs
The same four stages whether it is a patch of pointing or a new front wall.
We come and look at the job
Our founder, Jack, comes out to see every job personally, usually inside the week. We look at what the wall is standing on as well as what is standing up, and it comes with a free, no-obligation quotation in writing.
We agree a start date
We specify the bricks and the mortar for an exposed coastal position before anything is ordered, then book you in and protect the areas around the work.
We build it
The work is done to a high standard, with the copings and weatherings that keep water out built in rather than added afterwards. The site is left clean and tidy at the end of every day.
We walk you through it
Everything is cleaned down, all the waste goes with us, and we walk you round the finished job so you can see how it has been detailed and say if you are not happy.
What customers say about the work
Word for word from the Google profile, nothing tidied up.
5.0
Rosemary Collins
Jack did an excellent job rebuilding a section of our garden wall and repairing cracks in other sections despite having to work through challenging weather conditions and unexpected complications in relation to the groundwork.
Dane Gardner
Jack is a real craftsman who repaired my steps and repointed my patio to a very high standard. From the start he was good at communicating, replying to messages quickly and providing a prompt quote.
James Hickman
Jack was excellent from first inquiry to the finished product. We needed an old set of French doors bricking up to match our existing window still height.
The bits people ask about before they say yes
Three questions that come up on the doorstep, answered straight.
Will my garden be left in a state?
The site is cleaned down and tidied at the end of every day, and every bit of waste leaves with us when the job is done.
Will we actually hear back from you?
Message us on a Monday and we will usually have looked at the job by the end of that week, with the written quote to you by the weekend.
What if something goes wrong later?
There is a five-year workmanship guarantee on the work. If something we built fails inside that, we come back and put it right.
Questions from New Milton customers
If yours is not here, message us and we will answer it properly.
Do you cover New Milton?
Yes. We are based in Ferndown and are over this way regularly, across New Milton itself and Barton on Sea, Bashley, Ashley, Hordle, Milford on Sea and the villages in between. We work across Dorset and into Hampshire, and New Milton sits comfortably inside that.
What is the ground like in New Milton, and does it change how a wall is built?
It does. The town sits on a coastal plateau, and the sequence you can see in the cliffs at Barton on Sea is Pleistocene gravel over the Barton sands over the Barton Clay. That is not to say every garden in New Milton is the same, and most have imported topsoil over the top of it. Free-draining gravel and shrinkable clay want different footings, so we dig down and look before we commit to a depth, and the price follows what we find.
Does being this close to the sea affect brickwork?
Yes, more than people expect. The prevailing wind comes off Christchurch Bay with salt in it and drives rain into a seaward face, so that elevation weathers first and its pointing goes first. It changes what we specify: a mortar mix suited to a wet exposed wall, bricks rated for frost, and copings and weatherings that throw water clear instead of letting it soak in.
Do I need planning permission for a garden wall in New Milton?
Often not, but it is worth checking. As a rule a new wall over one metre high next to a road, or over two metres anywhere else, needs permission. New Milton is more complicated than most towns because the parish is split between two planning authorities, New Forest District Council and the New Forest National Park Authority, and Old Milton Green is a designated conservation area with its own character statement. Ring the council before you commit and you will know where you stand.
Can you match the brick on a 1930s New Milton house?
Usually, yes. The town grew after the railway arrived, so a lot of it is interwar and post-war brickwork, and matching that is a hunt rather than an order off a shelf. We find the closest brick we can and tell you honestly how close it is before we start, so the repair does not announce itself.
Do you take on small repointing jobs here?
Yes. A small patch on a seaward wall often needs more care than its size suggests, because that is the face taking the weather off the bay. Tell us what has gone and we will tell you honestly whether it wants a patch or whether the whole elevation is due, and what it comes to once we have looked at it properly.
Towns either side of New Milton
The nearest places we work, going west along the coast and north towards the Forest.
Christchurch
The next town west along the bay, over the Dorset border.
Bricklayer in ChristchurchBournemouth
Home to the semi-bespoke bond wall we are proudest of.
Bricklayer in BournemouthRingwood
North of here on the Avon, on the western edge of the Forest.
Bricklayer in RingwoodPoole
Further west again, and one of the post offices where we advertise.
Bricklayer in PooleFordingbridge
Up the Avon valley on the Hampshire side, at the western edge of the forest.
Bricklayer in FordingbridgeGet a free quote
Tell us what you need and we'll come back with a price. No pressure, no hard sell.
Prefer to talk? Call JFE Brickwork on 01202 028 343