A warning about cheap lime mortar for historic repointing

I just finished a job in Savannah fixing a wall that was done two years ago with a modern cement mix. The owner wanted it cheap, but now the original brick is cracking. We stripped it and used a proper NHL 3.5 lime mortar, mixed at a 1:2:9 ratio. The difference is night and day. The lime lets the wall breathe and flex, which the rigid cement mix never could. Has anyone else had to fix a job where the wrong mortar caused damage?

3 comments

3 Comments

shane_moore8719d ago

Is it always the mortar's fault? Sometimes the brick was already weak or the wall had other issues. A good mason should check the whole system before blaming one product.

elliot_allen6519d ago

Exactly. Gotta check the whole wall first.

emery_hall8d ago

People get too worked up about this stuff. Cement mortar has been used for decades without major problems. Sometimes a wall fails because it wasn't built right in the first place, or the ground moves. Lime isn't some magic fix for every old building.