Expansion and movement joint sealing in Old Town, Edinburgh
Work needed on a movement joint in Old Town? We look at it, seal it with the right product and hand it over with a 12-month guarantee.
- Rain penetration at brick or block movement joints
- Sealant peeling off one face of the joint
- Arrises breaking up along floor joints
Expansion joint sealing for Old Town sites
Tell us what needs sealing and where, with photos or drawings if you have them, and we’ll price it.
How we handle expansion joint sealing in Old Town
Floor movement joints in warehouses, retail and public buildings carry wheeled traffic. Unsupported edges break up under wheels, so the right filler or sealant for the traffic and movement matters. We’ll tell you if the edges need repairing before sealing. We work on podiums and floor movement joints, blockwork control joints and car park decks and ramps, and the failures we’re asked to look at most are rain penetration at brick or block movement joints and torn sealant in brick or block movement joints. Sealant contractors, mastic applicators, sealant specialists: whatever the job title on the order, the work in Old Town is the same: failed joints cut out, faces prepared and the right sealant laid to the right depth.
Around the edges of Scotland’s cities are warehouses, trade counters and distribution units, whose floor joints take forklift and pallet-truck traffic daily. The right filler or sealant, laid in phases, keeps them operating.
We sign every job off with a 12-month guarantee. The promise is simple: if the work we did fails within twelve months, we return to fix it.
- Place
- Old Town (EH1, EH8, EH3)
- Wider area
- Edinburgh
- Guarantee
- 12 months on our workmanship
- Price
- Fixed quote, scope in writing
- Telephone
- 01277 525 020
- Page updated
- 3 November 2026
FAQs: Old Town
Can you work at a site such as Beaverbank Business Park, by Old Town?
Yes. Our area takes in Old Town and its surroundings, with estates and business parks such as Beaverbank Business Park included. Send details of the unit and the work through our quote form for a quick quote.
Can you work on a hospital site such as Astley Ainslie Hospital?
Yes, provided the work is planned with the site’s estates team. Before anything starts, the estates team agrees permits, inductions and infection-control measures with us.
How long will the new sealant last?
It depends on movement, UV and weather, cleaning, traffic and the product. Sealant joints are maintenance items, so inspect them regularly.
Is it fine to apply new sealant on top of old?
No. We cut the old material out and clean the joint back before sealing, since fresh sealant will not bond reliably to aged material.
Do the joint edges need to be sound before sealing?
Broken arrises have to be put right before resealing, and we will point out where that’s the case. A bead on a broken edge soon lets go.
Do you offer coloured sealant?
In many cases, yes. Many products come in a range of standard colours, and matching to RAL references or surrounding finishes is often possible. We confirm what’s available for the specified product when we quote.
Does the weather affect joint sealing?
Weather matters for any external joint. Internal floor joints are far less affected.
Surface by surface
Cladding panel joints
Cladding panels move more than masonry as they heat and cool. The joints need a low-modulus sealant with enough movement capability in a colour confirmed for that product.
Car park decks and ramps
Failed deck joints often show as leaks on the level below. We strip the old seal, prepare the edges and seal again flagging broken edges along the way.
Quoting for work in Old Town
Sealant work doesn’t have a standard rate, since sites vary so much. What we look at:
- Whether the work must be split into stages
- Quantities, in metres or numbers
- Induction, permit and paperwork requirements
- The product specified
We don’t publish prices, because the scope varies so much from one building to the next. For a fixed figure, call for a quote and we’ll price your job on its own details.
Details that help us quote
To price the job accurately, we need a clear picture of the site. Send us:
- What the building is and how it’s used
- The asbestos register, for older buildings
- Your programme or deadline
- Approximate linear metres or a joint schedule
Send details, get a quote, we seal, guaranteed: that’s how every job runs. The first step is to give us a call on 01277 525 020 or send details through our quote form with what you know.
Building owners, agents and FMs in Old Town
Facilities managers want contractors who arrive with the paperwork sorted. Tell us what site paperwork you need, such as RAMS, an insurance certificate or CSCS details, and we will confirm with the quote.
For main contractors, we work as the sealant subcontractor. Programme, specification and site rules come first.
Joints that move: notes for Old Town
Old Town lies within about 2 miles of the sea. Near the sea, external slabs, ramps and decks see salt air and driven rain as well as their usual loads, so a failed joint lets more in and the edges break up sooner. Being in the east of Scotland, Old Town gets less rain than the west coast. Frost and de-icing salt still find their way into open external joints. Resealing before the cold months helps protect the edges.
Campuses like Old College (University of Edinburgh), less than half a mile to the east of Old Town, mix old and new buildings, with movement joints wherever they meet. For a centre such as Waverley Mall, under half a mile to the north of Old Town, the service yard and car park joints usually need attention first. Another example is Meadowbank Shopping Park, 1.2 miles north-east of Old Town, where floors and yards would be done in stages around the occupiers.
Old Town is about 1 mile north-east of Edinburgh, in Edinburgh. If you are looking for expansion joint sealing in Old Town, we can help. We work across 174 places in Edinburgh, from busy centres to rural villages.
Commercial sites across EH1, EH8 and EH3 are covered for movement joints. Among the streets we cover are Meuse Lane, High Street and Meadow Lane, and sites on any of them can send details for a fixed quote. Just outside Old Town, we also work in Lauriston (1 mile south-west), Buccleuch (1 mile south-east), Holyrood (1 mile north-east), Dumbiedykes (1 mile east) and Canongate (1 mile north-east). Bigger towns within reach include Queensferry (8 miles west), South Portobello (3 miles east), Southhouse (4 miles south-east), Gilmerton (4 miles south-east), Muirhouse (3 miles north-west) and Gracemount (3 miles south-east).
Around Old Town
In Old Town, that means premises near St Cuthbert's Church, Greyfriars Bobby Bar and The Meadows and the streets around them. You will also find Old Royal High School (0.6 miles north-east) and National Museums Scotland Library (less than half a mile south-east). There’s a railway station in Old Town itself: Edinburgh Waverley station. Other landmarks nearby include Edinburgh Castle (under half a mile west) and Museum of Scotland (less than half a mile south-east). Open spaces near Old Town include Salisbury Crags and Dunsapie Loch.
Looking after the joints
Keep the joints in good shape with a few simple steps:
- Avoid parking heavy plant or pallets on joint lines
- Keep traffic off new joints until the cure time is up
- Report split or peeling joint sealant early
- Raise snow-clearing blades over deck joints where possible
In warehouses, forklift and pallet-truck routes take the most wear. Avoid standing heavy loads or racking legs on the joints.
When one joint fails, others of the same age are rarely far behind. Inspecting the whole run is worth the effort so you can prioritise and budget. We’ll tell you which movement joints need doing now and which can wait.
Also in Old Town
What sealant work can’t fix
A few problems need another trade or a different fix, and we say so rather than covering them up:
- Leaks coming from the membrane rather than the joint seal
- Joints too narrow for the movement, which need redesigning by the engineer
- Crumbling edges that would give a new bead nothing sound to grip
If you’re not sure, just call 01277 525 020 or send photos by email and we’ll give you a straight answer before you book.
Where we work in Old Town
- Blockwork control joints
- Car park decks and ramps
- Precast concrete panel joints
- Cladding panel joints
- Podiums and floor movement joints
- Brickwork movement joints
Diagnose, treat, sign off
Occupied buildings need a little choreography. We sign and contain the area we’re in, keep walkways clear and move on in phases so staff and visitors can carry on around us. City jobs in Old Town typically need parking and loading planned. Shared closes, stairs and the property factor may need to be part of the plan.
- We look at the joints, their width and how they’ve failed.
- Next, we fix a price and confirm the sealant we propose for the movement.
- We strip out the old seal and prepare the faces, flagging any broken edges that need repair before sealing.
- We control the depth with backing rod or, in shallow joints, bond-breaker tape.
- Where the maker calls for primer, it’s applied first, then the bead goes in and is tooled to a concave finish.
- We check every joint before sign-off, and the work carries our 12-month guarantee.
Before we start on site
- Move anything stored against the joints
- Tell us your opening times and when work is allowed
- Agree which areas must stay open
Getting a fixed quote
Specifications, drawings and tender packages are welcome with any enquiry, and we will price the work to it. Smaller jobs need nothing more than photos and a few notes.