Lime for mortar

Wed 28 Jan 2009, 23:05

Also witney freecycle which you can subscribe to directly by typing in the email command witneyfreecycle-subscribe@yahoogroups.com thus avoiding all the hassle of an internet page login process & the same is true for chippyfreecycle-subscribe@yahoogroups.com. Don't bother with oxfordfreecycle it is currently running at some 700-1000 messages a day and has all the practical usefulness of spam given the rate of competition...

Wed 28 Jan 2009, 18:03

thanks

Wed 28 Jan 2009, 12:12

Try the Chippy freecycle pages at groups.yahoo.com/group/chippyfreecycle/

Tue 27 Jan 2009, 00:11

If you can't find anything locally then A.K.Timms down in Carterton do a lime paste which you can mortar up with. Cut it 6:1. If pointing up limestone don't, as you have obviously surmised, use modern cement as this is harder and a lot lot less reactive than old lime and the rain will dissolve the calcium carbonate of the limestone rock one heck of a lot faster than the modern cement will erode - I see plenty of sad examples of bodge handed pointing and repairs around Charlbury where buildings and walls are being slowly wrecked and ruined by repairs with modern cement mortars ... which should be immediately raked out and redone in lime mortar before the stone rots too far!!! So yes, definitely use the old slaked lime stuff. It also needs much less energy to cook - about 800C compared to some 1400 or 1600C for cement (forget the exact temps) which makes a heck of al lot of difference in how much energy one needs to put into the kilns to make the stuff (something like a cube relationship). Also good ol' lime reabsorbs most of the CO2 driven off it in the production process, in time as it cures, which modern cement does not, so that is a an environmental gain as well. Make sure your builder if you are using one uses lime mortar if renovating a traditional house NOT, repeat NOT, modern cement to make the mortar, or you will wreck the building in a disturbingly short period of time!!!!!

Sat 24 Jan 2009, 18:47

Anyone got couple of shovels full of lime to mix into some rendering mortar?