Watch out for old lime mortar on repointing jobs - it cost me 3 extra days

I took on a repointing job last week on a house built in 1920 near Cleveland. Thought I could just mix up some standard type N and be done in two days. Turns out the original mortar was soft lime based, and my new mix was way too hard - it would have cracked the old bricks over time. I had to grind out all my work and order a special lime mortar from a supplier 60 miles away. Has anyone else run into this with older homes, or did I just miss something obvious in my prep?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_wesley4d ago

Took me three days just to source that lime mortar from a specialty yard.

thomas1053d ago

You got it from a specialty yard? Which one if you don't mind me asking. I've had decent luck with a place called Limeworks up in New Hampshire but shipping can be a killer.

lee_bailey653d ago

Yeah it's funny how that works with old stuff in general, not just masonry. I notice it with cars and even kitchen appliances sometimes. People assume newer methods are always better because they're newer, but they don't realize old timers built things to work together a certain way. Like my granddad had this old cast iron stove that would have warped if you put modern aluminum pans on it or something. Same deal with lime mortar and old soft bricks. The whole system was designed to breathe and move together, and when you throw in something too stiff it just fights everything. I think that's why a lot of older houses that were "fixed" with modern materials end up having more problems down the road than the ones left alone. It's a pattern you start seeing everywhere once you look for it.