Oct 22, 2013
Facade Restorations at St Peter’s Church
Dwyer Heritage Restorations recently completed a wide cross section of façade restorations to the St Peter’s Catholic Church on Devonshire St, Surry Hills in Sydney.
This project involved;
- Cleaning
- Repointing
- Tuckpointing
- Carpentry
- Removal, restorations and reinstating the bell
- Installing new cross
- Waterproofing
- Restorations to leadlight windows
CLEANING
We use pressure hot water to clean facades. Detailing of brickwork involves removal of redundant fixings and applying paint stripper to paint spills.
REPOINTING OF BRICKWORK
Our repointing system is unique. Nearly 40 years ago an industrial chemist gave me the technology to be able to mix mortar and place it into a gun to be pumped, under pressure, into jointing. It is then ruled off to finish the mortar joints according to the client’s wishes and the appropriate period for the building. Our system is very clean – not requiring the use of hydrochloric acid to wash the brickwork after.
This system has been used on a large number of major project s across Australia. In Sydney projects include the Commonwealth Bank Head Office at 48 Martin Place, Paddys Markets and The Anzac War Memorial in Hyde Park (see attached lists).
TUCKPOINTING
The retuckpointing of all the red face bricks in the window arches. Our tuckpointing systew3m once again is unique. It again uses the te4chnology that allows us to pump mortar and importantly guarantee the white lines will not wash off over time. The finish is based on the original system of white lines 4 to 4.5mm width with a base mortar coloured to match the brick colour.
CARPENTRY
Our carpenters have a wide range of skills having completed restorations to the stairs and double hung sash windows and splicing new timber to replace rotted portions of leadlight frames.
RESTORATIONS TO THE BELL
The bell had broken away from its mountings in the tower. These were restored and a new electronic ringer installed.
INSTALLATION OF THE NEW CROSS
The original sandstone cross had been hit by lightning and destroyed many years ago. A new bronze cross was cast and new stainless steel mountings installed. The new cross weighs approximately 360kgs and was lifted into place by a large crane from a position at the back of the church with a reach of over 60 metres.
WATERPROOFING
The two towers at the front of the church – one of which has the bell mounted in it – are rendered internally and had large crocks in the walls. We applied a waterproof coatings to these walls.
LEADLIGHT WINDOWS
There are 20 coloured leadlight windows with religious figures that required cleaning and restorations. Protective brass screens were fitted. There were also ten double hung sash framed windows to service and restore.
