Case study · Stonework

Sandstone Openings

Five openings in one stone building, reworked in new and reclaimed sandstone. Two doors and three windows became four doors and one window.

Openings

2 doors, 3 windows → 4 doors, 1 window

Stone

New buff sandstone and reclaimed stone from site

Work

New rybats, lintels and sills

A low stone building with a slate roof, with the well we rebuilt in the garden in front of it. When we started it had two doors and three windows. When we finished it had four doors and one window.

Two windows were made into doorways, one at the front and one at the back. The sliding door in the gable became a wide opening under a long new lintel. The blue-green door and the small front window stayed where they were and were framed in dressed stone.

Each opening is told below from start to finish.

The stone: new and reclaimed

The openings are built in a mix of new buff sandstone and reclaimed stone from the site.

The lintels and sills were dressed on site, the sills on a banker under a sheeted scaffold.

Two long new sandstone lintels with broached faces lying across blue pallets on gravel, smaller new blocks stacked behind. — Two new lintels, dressed on site.

Sandstone sill on a sacking-covered banker under a sheeted scaffold, stone chippings on the ground. — The sill on the banker.

Close view along the sandstone sill on the banker, its wash and face broached and tooled. — The wash was cut and the sill was broached and tooled on site.

Front window to doorway

At the front, facing the well, a white window sat straight in the rubble wall with no dressed stone round it.

We took it down to ground level and built it up again as a doorway. New rybats went in, in alternating long and short stones that tie back into the wall, with a new lintel across the head and a large stone ready for the step. The opening was boarded while the work went on.

We built the doorway inside and out, because the client has exposed stonework in the kitchen. From inside, it looks straight out at the well, and the blue-green door is a few metres along the same wall.

White window set straight into a rubble stone wall with no dressed margin, the ground below dug out and held back with blockwork. — Before: the front window.

Front doorway boarded with OSB behind a scaffold, new sandstone rybats of alternating long and short stones under a new lintel, a large stone step in front. — New rybats and lintel built in from the scaffold.

The front opening as a doorway, with new sandstone rybats and lintel built in and a large stone step below. — Scaffold down, the new doorway boarded.

Open doorway with new sandstone rybats of alternating long and short stones, broached faces and tooled margins, under a new lintel. — The new front doorway.

View from inside out through the new doorway to the rebuilt round stone well, with a white MD Brickwork & Stonework van parked beyond. — Dressed stone inside too, looking out to the well we rebuilt.

The blue-green door

The front wall had been painted white, and the blue-green door sat straight in the rubble with no rybats.

With the paint off, the door came out and a timber frame went into the opening so it could be sheeted up while the old stone was taken out. The door now has new rybats and a new lintel in dressed sandstone.

White-painted stone wall with a large patch stripped back to brown sandstone, a white window to the left and the blue-green door to the right. — Before: the front wall, with the white paint coming off.

Blue-green boarded door set straight into a rubble wall, with no rybats. — The door, with no rybats.

Doorway with the door removed and a timber frame in the opening for sheeting it up, the old stone running right up to the edge. — Opened up, with a timber frame in for sheeting.

Blue-green boarded door and a small white window, both framed in dressed buff sandstone. — The door with its new rybats, the small window beside it.

The small front window

Beside the timber-clad building, a small window sat in the rubble with no dressed stone round it.

It stayed a window. We propped it and built in new rybats, a sill and a lintel, so it now matches the blue-green door beside it.

Small white window in a rubble wall beside a timber-clad building, with no dressed stone round it. — Before: the small window beside the timber-clad building.

Small window opening boarded with plywood, new sandstone rybats, sill and lintel bedded in fresh mortar, an adjustable prop in front. — Propped while the new rybats, sill and lintel go in.

Blue-green boarded door and a small white window in a stone wall, both framed in dressed buff sandstone, under a slate roof. — The window and the door in matching dressed stone.

Back window to doorway

Round the back, a tall window looked out over the lawn.

It is now a doorway out to the new extension, with new rybats in alternating long and short stones, a new lintel, and dressed stone at the reveals inside.

Tall white window with a top light in a rubble stone wall, a downpipe to its left. — Before: the tall window at the back.

Doorway in a rubble stone wall with new sandstone rybats of alternating long and short stones and a new lintel. — The back window, now a doorway.

Inside view through the new back doorway, dressed stone at the reveal, trees beyond. — From inside, looking out through the new doorway.

Inside view of the back doorway from an angle, dressed sandstone at the reveal, trees beyond. — Dressed stone at the reveal inside.

Gable sliding door to wide opening

The gable had a white sliding door. It came out, and the opening was rebuilt in dressed stone from a scaffold, with new rybats either side in the same alternating long and short stones.

A single long lintel spans the head, dressed on site. The opening was boarded once the stonework was in.

White sliding door in a rubble stone gable wall, a downpipe to its left. — Before: the sliding door in the gable.

Two-storey stone gable with a scaffold round a wide ground-floor opening boarded with OSB, new sandstone rybats either side. — The gable with the scaffold up and the new rybats in.

Wide opening boarded with OSB behind a scaffold, framed by new sandstone rybats and a long lintel. — New rybats and the long lintel built in.

Close view of the long sandstone lintel over a wide boarded opening, rybats either side. — The long lintel, from the scaffold.

Wide opening boarded with OSB, framed by new sandstone rybats and a long lintel in a rubble gable wall. — The gable opening, finished in dressed stone.

The result

Before & after

Front window to doorway

The blue-green door

The small front window

Back window to doorway

Gable sliding door to wide opening

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