Building Services in Arundel

Flint is the material that defines older Arundel building, and it is unforgiving of bad repointing. Flint has no absorbency of its own, so everything depends on the mortar: too hard a mix and moisture cannot escape through the joint, so it works around the flints and pushes them loose. Repointing flint properly is slow, and a fast job is usually a sign it was done wrong.

Solid brick walls behave the same way. They need a mortar softer than the brick, and lime-based where the original construction used it. The temptation to point in strong cement because it looks neat and goes off quickly causes more damage to Arundel property than weather does.

Roofs here are more often slate and clay tile than concrete, both of which are repaired rather than replaced wholesale where possible — partly for appearance, partly because consent may be required to change the covering at all.

The practical rule in Arundel is to check before starting, not after. Replacing windows, altering a frontage, changing a roof covering or adding something visible from the street can require listed building consent or planning permission even where the same work elsewhere would be permitted development. We handle general repairs and maintenance on listed and conservation-area property, we advise on what is likely to need consent, and where a job calls for a genuine heritage specialist we say so rather than taking it on.