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Column Finial Repair

T

Tellurian

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Anyone here know anything about finials?
We have brick columns either side of our front gate with an element on the top that incorporates a smallish finial.
My idiot neighbour has managed to knock off the one on our shared boundary. I don't trust him to fix it with his "strong glue" and I doubt I'd be able to get the cost of a professional repair back from him (I totally blame him, did I mention he's an idiot).
So it looks like it'll be down to me to fix.
Looking at the piece knocked off, I don't know how these elements were constructed, but it appears that there might be an earlier repair in it's 100 year old life. So, my thinking was to clean it up and remove the traces of old adhesive and to use some masonry adhesive to fix it myself. This seems to fit the bill for adhesive. Construction Adhesive
Does anyone have any experience of this sort of repair and can provide any pointers for a lasting repair?

Some pictures attached.
LonelyRemainingFinial.jpg
WheresMyFinial.jpg
ArielViewofMissingFinial.jpg
UndersideofFinial.jpg
 
Pete Maddex":1g8bn7sr said:
Stainless steel studing and glue the stuff for wall fixings.

Pete
Click to expand...
Cheers Pete.
Are you saying to insert steel rod into both parts and then glue? I was hoping to avoid drilling as I was worried about splitting the ball into bits. I'm also not confident with ensuring that the holes will line up accurately.

Doug":1g8bn7sr said:
Stixall does what it says on the tube https://www.toolstation.com/stixall-adh ... ant/p77137
Click to expand...

Thanks Doug, will it provide enough strength to ensure it doesn't fall off in the future? There isn't a massive contact area between the two parts.
 
Doug is right. I use Stixall or (these days) CT1 to assemble a 600kg Japanese Stone pergola 2.5 m high which is subject to wind stress and bamboos blown against it. I thought I would be able to get it apart with a bit of leverage. Rock solid though. Clean the surfaces and bond. Wont go anywhere.
 
Haven’t tried Stixall but I’m sure Doug will be right.
Plus 1 for me, CT1 is what I always use for this type of repair. Their advert used to say you can glue bricks together underwater, I’m sure you can but why is another matter lol.
There looks to be a Masonic Design to the underside of the ball finials?
We all have idiot neighbours, there’s s lot about.
 
Construction adhesives are excellent these days but personally I'd be belt and braces for the simple reason that if it gets knocked off again it may well shatter when it hits the ground.

It looks like sandstone so soft enough to drill very easily, the hole doesn't need to be deep, 25-30mm or so is plenty and locating is simple if you drill the hole larger than the pin / rod. Plenty of adhesive around it will fill that and it will never come off.

I did something similar probably 20+ years ago with an old bird table far more vulnerable than that and it's still intact.
 
I use Stixall when making up Cants & it sticks really well but then so do all of these polyurethane based adhesives I just find Stixall the cheapest.
If you are going to reinforce the joint I’d make sure whatever you use it’s of good quality stainless steel a lot of what you get today is rubbish which could expand & damage the piece beyond repair.
 
Thanks all for the replies.
I hadn't thought of making reinforcing holes oversized, I suppose it makes sense.
Good to hear that the glues are so good these days.
I'll have a think about the reinforcement, I wouldn't have a clue how to identify a quality piece of stainless steel from a dodgy bit so I may try it without.

Cheers,
Barry
 
"Quality" stainless steel is Marine grade (SAE316) and readily available on-line or from marine chandlers as rod or tube or bolts (cut the head off). It will survive salt water and will not rust except in very extreme circumstances. It's rust that causes the expansion problems. Personally I would just use CT1 which is about £12 a tube if I was not confident of drilling.
 
As per previous replies CT1 or similar construction adhesive. It never had a reinforcing “stud” , so unlikely to need one now, plus with a bar in if it were to get hit again it’d likely break into multiple pieces rather than shearing off.
 
Andyp":39f47orw said:
Even a class 1 idiot must have struggled to knock that off so high. I can’t help wondering how.
Click to expand...
We do live among them Andy, I could put names to a couple around this area. :eusa-think:
 
Phil - it previously had a stone square peg. That has sheared. But CT1 is a modern adhesive and with a flat base that will secure it.
 
AJB Temple":ple65zev said:
Phil - it previously had a stone square peg. That has sheared. But CT1 is a modern adhesive and with a flat base that will secure it.
Click to expand...

Yes, but a stone “peg” will shear, a stainless one is not going to.
 
Thanks all for the replies.
As to how he managed it, I managed to capture it on camera. He's been having a house remodelled and a steady succession of builders that have come and gone over the last 7-8 years, generally with a lot of swearing. He has a tendency to agree a price and then renege on it when the bill becomes due. Anyway, he's managed to find one bloke that hasn't heard about him and had his front driveway block-paved and then the shared boundary wall re-pointed. This was done (appallingly) and he decided to have a scrub at the column and must have scrubbed a bit too hard and knocked off the ball. I do suspect that it was previously repaired but it's been like that longer than we've been in the house which is 28 years so he must have used some force on it.
I think I'm going to go with the adhesive option, CT1 sounds like the one to use. Thanks again.
 
Just a thought, might that be the start of another fracture under the next moulding down ?
Cheers, Andy
 
I used some polyurethane gorilla glue on a couple of squirrel tails which seems to have held up for the last year
 
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