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St Swithuns Restoration Project
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Click on any picture for a bigger version
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| Completed area of re-pointing / re-build
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| Areas where larger amounts of material have been removed. Waiting for the weather to warm up so that they can be re-built
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Re-pointing with a lime-based mortar, which will allow trapped moisture to evaporate and the tower to dry out
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| The lime mortar of the tower behind the outer layer of cement has failed, so this shows an area that needs to be rebuilt
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Areas where larger amounts of material have been removed. Waiting for the weather to warm up so that they can be re-built
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| Area where the cement mortar has been raked out:
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As the outer layer of cement mortar is removed, it reveals areas where the inner lime mortar has failed
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| Terry Sawyers, the working foreman from Bakers of Danbury, the contractors
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Detailed inspection of the outside of the tower shows that many different materials have been used to point between the flints externally. Cement pointing is “bad” as it stops the water inside the tower from escaping, and it damages the softer lime mix used internally. Unfortunately cement has been found all over the tower
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| Where cement pointing has been removed, there is evidence underneath of the internal damp – shown as the darker colour in these photos
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Water penetration has contributed to some flints cracking, these will need replacing
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| More extensive repair work is required in several places. New louvres are needed in the windows; louvres help to keep the wind and rain out where there is no glass
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| The horizontal 'string courses' round the tower are designed to help shed water from the tower, but because extra pointing has been added over time they don’t work as intended anymore, this needs to be remedied, otherwise water will continue to run down the face of the tower.
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Removing hard internal render within the two lower chambers of the tower. Underneath the render the tower was visibly damp with water seeping out. Removing this hard outer “skin” is allowing the tower to dry out. Ventilation will be improved in this part to the tower to assist drying
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| Re-gilded Clock Face
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New Louvres
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