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Lime pointing


Roz

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46 minutes ago, scottishjohn said:

Is this the right time of year to be doing lime mortar building ?

Iwas ubde the impression it was a summer job building with lime mortar,due to its drying time 

 

I think the main issue is frost damage (Just from reading online), but we're down in Cornwall and whilst it's chilly, we are OK at the moment. 

 

I should have done it earlier, but didnt get around to it, and now we have a lot of water coming into the building as we've knocked the rest of the old pointing (earth) out... so need to get it plugged up!

Edited by Roz
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6 minutes ago, Roz said:

I think the main issue is frost damage (Just from reading online), but we're down in Cornwall and whilst it's chilly, we are OK at the moment. 

 

I should have done it earlier, but didnt get around to it, and now we have a lot of water coming into the building as we've knocked the rest of the old pointing (earth) out... so need to get it plugged up!

not going to dry up at all this winter -- and if it gets wet it will melt and  run down the stone work and stain it -- I suspect you need to cover it with sheet  to stop that happenning .

frost can only cause damge it there is free water to freeze 

Edited by scottishjohn
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Just now, scottishjohn said:

not going to dry up at all this winter -- and if it gets wet it will melt and  run down the stone work and stain it -- I suspect you need to cover it with sheet  to stop that happenning 

Yeah we have a big roll of Hessian on the go and keeping an eye on the forecast. The first batch I did seems to have dried out OK so far, at least on the surface. Hopefully there will be enough gaps in the weather to work around it!

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3 minutes ago, Roz said:

Yeah we have a big roll of Hessian on the go and keeping an eye on the forecast. The first batch I did seems to have dried out OK so far, at least on the surface. Hopefully there will be enough gaps in the weather to work around it!

 will hessian  not hold water when it gets wet  and let it through and then freeze 

plastic sounds abetter choice

I think the idea of hessian is to allow it to breathe and let water evaporate --can,t see much of that going on for ther next few months if the hessian is soaked with rain 

 

 

Edited by scottishjohn
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On a hot summer day you would use hessian dunked in water to cover lime pointing as you want the lime to dry out slowly - too fast and it won't set properly.

Protection from rain is maybe more important in these months so hessian or some sheeting can help with that. I have found it surprising how much you can get away with lime pointing in the cold and have rarely had it blow because of frost damage.

Just make sure the mix is pretty dry. Even cover up a wall you will be working on for a few days before to stop it getting soaked before you point it.

Also - if it has set a bit too much before you try to finish up the pointing a wire brush can help - I don't like the lines you sometimes get with them so you can bash away at the pointing with a churn brush afterwards and that can get it where you want it.

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@Onoff what @mvincentd said, I suspect the SPAB advice is referring to walls originally built in lime, for the small infill patch you are doing I doubt it will make any difference?

@scottishjohn it is getting late in the year now for lime pointing/laying but the main risk is frost or freezing. If the brickwork is covered from direct water it will have a chance, but this time of year I would be using an NHL mix not putty. In my experience the putty takes a lot longer to go off sufficiently to not be at risk, whereas NHL will be OK after 2-3 days even in lower temps.

 

Once we are in Dec/Jan I would be very careful with weather though, we tend to try and do inside jobs over the winter but have had significant outside pointing/brickowk done upto end Oct/early Nov with no probs.

 

Cheers,

 

MM

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On 24/11/2019 at 08:31, scottishjohn said:

Is this the right time of year to be doing lime mortar building ?

Iwas ubde the impression it was a summer job building with lime mortar,due to its drying time

From what I have read and heard, there is never a good time to use lime.

It is either too cold, too hot, too dry, to wet, too sunny, too dark, too windy, too calm.

I wonder why people bother with it.

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Every day is a good day to use lime! Well maybe not if it is really freezing, but then not so good for cement either.

7 hours ago, SteamyTea said:

I wonder why people bother with it.

How about for starters - at the end of the building's life cycle you will be able to reuse materials you couldn't with cement.

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Just now, SteamyTea said:

Concrete gets crushed into hardcore.

 

Exactly! Like asbestos gets broken up and quietly buried...old engine oil gets burnt...cess pool gets pumped down the road when its heavily raining...

 

?

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6 minutes ago, Onoff said:

quietly buried

Not sure how different lime and Portland cement are chemically, that is one for @Jeremy Harris, but as concrete is used for foundations, I can't see that it is a problem (under current legislation).

Not a lot we, as individuals, can do about large organisations breaking, or bending the laws and rules (short of direct action sabotage). 

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