Hot lime & NHL lime mortars
Here we use lime mortar for re-pointing to the stonework on an old barn conversion. You can see the damage that hard cement pointing can do. Moisture is squeezed into the stonework as the pointing material is unable to breathe. This excessive dampness in the masonry causes spalling, i.e freeze-thaw damage and erosion Due to the exposed nature of this wall a stronger 3.5 lime mortar was the preferred choice. Sand is very important for lime mortar; we specified a sharp-graded washed sand. The walls can now breathe, eliminating damp problems caused by the concrete pointing . The exact lime mortar mix was 1 part 3.5 NHL to three parts Noster field sharp sand and 1 part Leighton Buzzard sand. This makes a durable attractive-looking mortar. The same lime mortar mix can be used for both lime render and lime-pointing projects. Lime mortar is also suitable for new builds, especially stonework. We have helped several home builders with the specification of lime mortars and the results are outstanding. Even the most narrow-minded of builders can be easily converted to the benefits of using lime once they have been trained to use the material.
We also restore houses using hot lime mortars. These mortars are very breathable and are most suited to soft stone or brickwork. Different colours are available the strength of the mortar can also be modified by using different pozzolans (setting prompt agents such as brick dust, fly ash, etc)
All4walls are able to analyse your existing mortar on-site or at a laboratory and match the composition of it, this ensures compatibility and helps match the colour and texture of the existing lime mortar.
Stone Erosion
Barn conversion