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Good question. When constructional lime mortar is used, it is usually of a lime putty constituent. Like putty is more breathable than an NHL lime due to the absence of argillaceous clays. You would normally aim to reduce the depth of your beds to less than 25mm. If you take down or work on a well built random stone structure then you will observe the use of packers in between the joints whereas in a cementitious mortar, the joints are just gobbed up.

Cheers @skygoneblack6216 I'd be tempted to point it up if there are voids in the stonework as those voids are areas that could leach warmth from your property. If the water is gaining entry to the cavity or rubble infill then dampness could be lingering in the dark recesses. Plus, a lime pointed wall will show off the beauty of the original stonework too!

@@dportercontracting9974 hey thanks dude, may drop you a PM if that ok? Much appreciated

Ha I guffawed at that quip there @Westmoreland348 🤣

Thanks, I learnt a lot from your videos, really appreciate them!!

Cheers @AspectRampage. If you are to use stones from round about site, you would be best to ensure that there is no soil on them first. Soil will create air pockets between the mortar and stone as it contracts which could blow the mortar if the soil or entrained moisture freezes.

Just done a job where I added more fine granite dust (literally, just the dust) to the mix (2:1:1 grit sand: Gdust: NHL 3.5) and it cured to a beautiful white colour, yet still showed the grey flecks of the granite under close inspection. I'm hoping to upload the vid in the next few weeks.. I'd definitely repeat the mix again for the aesthetics of the finished article.

@@dportercontracting9974 cheers pal I'll get some granite dust and whip a small batch up thanks for the advice

Hi Nick, glad to hear you are looking after the heritage properties in Oz! I'm guessing that sun shrinkage with your lime mortar will be a bigger issue for you than dealing with existing damp problems in dwellings? I charge a standard square meter price for application, plus materials, plus a standard hourly rate for breaking out. I've found that is the best way for me to cover my back on jobs.

Thanks freckle1998. The bothy is on the pilgrims route to the holy island of Iona. There is no other shelter for the next 15 miles of coastline so if you contact the owners at the farm then I'm sure they won't have an issue with folk stopping in the bothy.

When you are tamping back the finished pointing, keep tamping and you will clean off the snots. If you have finished the works then brick acid and careful application with a small brush will be a good way to remove lime stains. Just be careful not to get any on your lime mortar or it will dissolve and degrade it dramatically.

I haven't used lime as a plasticiser. Is it effective?

@@dportercontracting9974 - In the days before chemical plasticisers the old school brickies used to use it as an additive in cement mortar to improve workability & durability. Being a DIYer I've only ever used cement mortar on small repairs, but I have a garage to repoint & the original mortar is not just cement & sand (where not eroded, it's formed a hard calcified outer skin over a slightly softer base).

Thanks for the comment @Benzknees. The laborious task of removing the render and mortar without winding up the neighbours is quite a mission! The weep vents are specific tubes for such a job. I guess you could use the standard prep vent ones but you would have to ensure that driving rain couldn't track up and through them upon installation 👍

Great question! I usually advise to leave the finished mortar for at least a week before lighting the stove. A quicker cure, generated by the heat from the stove will cause your mortar to shrink and crack if lit sooner.

Hi there. Whether inside or out, the backpointing should, in my opinion be scraped back. When it is scraped back, the fat is removed from the surface of the backpointing. This scraping off leaves a textured finish, ready to key to the finish pointing. You can leave the backpointing for a couple of days before finish pointing to get to that green hard set. The longer left the better to be honest.

Cheers for the props matey! You'll find on old brickwork that the peeps can sometimes be a bit shy of mortar on the original construction. You'll get away with just doing a finish coat of lime mortar on the perps. There will be air behind the brickwork that can add to the carbonation process once the finish mortar is applied.

Have a watch f the video and it will explain your question my friend.

Used to use high end ones but now go for a BnQ McCulloch breaker. They come with a 12 month guarantee for £120. I make sure that they are busted within the 12 months and go and get a brand new one under the guarantee. Quids in!

Lol thanks. I'll do that then 😅

New videos should be up if the repoint later on this week. F Unfortunately, I've way too much work on at the moment to look to new horizons. Hopefully there are some stellar tradesmen that can work with lime and do buildings justice over the Irish sea.

Hi, thanks for your comment. The leaky gutter on this dwelling caused damp ingress through the wall in the top bedroom. Since fixing the leak, the wall has dried out. This may be due to a combination of the gutter not leaking anymore and the lime pointing allowing moisture trapped in the stone skin to egress the property.

@dportercontracting9974 lots of stone built terrace houses here in Abergavenny. I'm a structural engineer and often do house surveys and find so many houses with cement pointing over the lime mortar. I've also been doing some Internet research and whereas many people say blithely that gypsum plaster doesn't allow a wall to breathe is simply not true. What is the killer is using modern emulsion paints.

A putty based mortar will take longer this time of year while the temperatures are cooler. It could be anything upto a week or ten days before it gets to that green hard set. Bear in mind that a putty takes longer to cure than an NHL mortar too.

Because it was rotten in the middle and growing towards a 17th century stately home.

I'll bet there are some earth mounds somewhere in Florida that the natives built that would love a renovation like this one.

The breakers I use only put out 10J of force so the JCB one would be too powerful for raking out for what I need.

I had a feeling that might be true, thanks so much for letting me know, I owe you a drink for sure! Trouble is finding a breaker on a budget, wow they're a lot of dolla! Youwere right about the 'back end of March, looks like the 28th is 'go' day according to the 10 day forecast!@@dportercontracting9974

Do you think a 5 jewel breaker too weak? Part of the work aside from the exterior 30 year old cement removal is old plaster on a brick 'n' dust single brick thick inner wall. @@dportercontracting9974

The constructional mortar wasn't full beds so moisture can find it's way out of the stonework in gaps and cracks between the substrate. I'm back up there next week to lime point the building so it'll be a functional, active wall when it's pointed up.

Are the clients understanding? Did they pay for a new hop up?

@@sgfelectrical734 The clients were very understanding about the collapse. It was for the better anyways as the gable would have needed taking down stone by stone to rebuild it. New videos of the repoint of the bothy should be up later on this week. Stay tuned!

Cheers Matty! I would stay away from using any plasticiser in a lime mortar mix. It's simply a case of using more water in the mix to make it more malleable. Using a lime putty in your mortar, rather than a NHL will make a creamier mix that is more suitable for a constructional mortar. I've another video on how to mix lime putty that will explain all for you.

I'm afraid not my friend.

I always use a grit or river sand with my lime mixes. Anything finer than a grit sand will shrink and crack. You can mix building sand with grit but would always opt for a grit sand if available to you. There are various colours of sand available to you. Each area will have its own coloured sand depending on the quarry it came from.

Thanks for the kind words Joe. You can order decent river sands from companies such as limestuff.co.uk to make ideal mixes with. Nothing wrong with making your own course sand mix though with mixing the building sand with the washed grit. Each mix will have a different finish colour to it. I guess that's the joy of lime work, each job is unique and has it's own particular qualities down to the constituents of the mix used.

Definitely Jim. I would use a NHL2 for internal pointing, mixed to the same ratios.

@@dportercontracting9974 Great, thanks for the reply.

Definitely an ash lime mortar matey. This is my full time job.. If you watch the video to the end you'll see what's going on here.

​@@dportercontracting9974 fair point and my fault for not watching further on. I've got ash mortar on my house but it's rock solid, almost stone like. I also have earth mortar and it's pretty much soil. Interesting these old houses

@@hugh3sy7 They sure are interesting when you scratch the surface and see how the various tradesmen through the story of the structure performed their craft. Good luck with your renovation!👍