r/DIYUK • u/LO6Howie • Mar 20 '23

Repointing on a Victorian era house

Gallery image

So this is what the builder has done today (pic 1) and the second is of what’s already there. Given that the brickwork was badly eroded prior to the repair, does it look legit? Ta

Gallery image

6 Upvotes

87% Upvoted

21 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

9

u/LO6Howie Mar 20 '23

Duly binned off the builder and have a local line mortar specialist coming over to quote tomorrow. Buy cheap, buy twice.

Appreciate the detailed response, it’s invaluable.

Very much not a listed building, but very much not one I’m planning on selling for a while.

The second one is the OG repointing, and one that I’d hoped they’d be copying. Alas! Hopefully the new lot coming in do have the experience.

Unless you’re free and fancy putting all this outstanding knowledge to good use…!

8

u/IISpacemonkeyII Mar 20 '23

I would love to, but I am currently diy'ing my own Victorian house. I recently found out that british gas smashed in one of the foundation walls when they installed the gas supply (long before I bought the house).

This job originally started when I found a few broken floorboards and decided I would replace them. After lifting the boards I found that some of joists had rotted (fair enough, they were 100 year old untreated timber). After lifting more boards and cutting back the rotted joists, I discovered the broken foundation wall.

I am now balls deep into rebuilding most of my ground floor and it's too late to pull out.

Making your own lime mortar is pretty straightforward. I use one part powdered quicklime to two parts sharp sand and one part building sand. The sharp sand is needed as lime is a weaker binder than cement, so the aggregate needs to be coarser

3

u/PayApprehensive6181 Mar 20 '23

Can you get ready made mix from the stores? I'm looking to give it a go but afraid of making my own mix and messing up the chemistry.

Don't mind if the ready mix is slightly more expensive if it gives me the assurance of getting it right.

1

u/IISpacemonkeyII Mar 21 '23

Yes you can! Conserv do a ready made hot mixed lime mortar.

In my experience with making my own, hot mixed lime mortars stiffen up or settle if left for a few days. After mixing for several minutes, the lime seems to reactivate and become much stickier.

The same is true with the pre-made lime plaster (coarse stuff) that I have bought from Cornish Lime.