Chapel conversion: mortar advice please from someone who knows the current products!

[geoffmuller]

Hi all, just joined up.
 

I'm about a zillion years into a 19th C Methodist chapel conversion. All the big stuff was done ages ago and I've loaned my mixer out to a bloke up the road. All the old dried up solid bags of OP and lime have been binned for a while. I've just changed a 1st storey window and need to point up round the frame where it meets the old Norfolk red/Suffolk white bricks. Way back in the day I spent weeks doing trial mixes with mortar to get a match on the original lime mortar, but that was when I was laying bricks too. I just need  literally a shovel full or so of mortar, if that, so I wondered what the modern premixed stuff was like? I'd be very interested to hear what people might have to say/suggest/recommend/warn about!

 

Thanks in advance - I've attached a couple of snaps to paint the picture.

 

Cheers, Geoff 

[Roger440]

Ive found it great.

 

You can send a sample off and they will match it for you too.

 

If you are exposed, you might want to add some pozzlan, but given you loction, i guess that doesnt apply?

 

[jfb]

Have you tried a small mix of whatever sand you get locally and some NHL 3.5 at around 3:1?
might be just the ticket!

[geoffmuller]

15 hours ago, Roger440 said:

Ive found it great.

Hi Roger, thanks for the reply - but I'm not sure what the 'it' refers to!!

 

Geoff

[geoffmuller]

3 hours ago, jfb said:

Have you tried a small mix of whatever sand you get locally and some NHL 3.5 at around 3:1?
might be just the ticket!

Hi, there's a lot of different sands available, as with the lime, but I'm trying to avoid a couple of scarcely used big bags of material sitting and going off!

 

[Roger440]

On 22/04/2026 at 10:54, geoffmuller said:

Hi Roger, thanks for the reply - but I'm not sure what the 'it' refers to!!

 

Geoff

 

Premixed lime putty.