cefn Posted March 1, 2008 Share Posted March 1, 2008 I have a very large fire place lintel/manle and one stone in exach support is slowly turning to powder, very much like sand. I am desperate as to what to do to prevent this. I am returning to our house in France on the 20th of March and would like to be able to prevent any further changes to the stone. I have tried saltpeter and it did not work. Anyone any idea what could be causing this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Albert the InfoGipsy Posted March 1, 2008 Share Posted March 1, 2008 I'm no expert on stonework, but it would probably help if you could say what type of stone it is (sandstone, limestone...) and if there is anything that looks like it may be the cause.Are the two stones directly opposite each other? At the top, middle or bottom? Do you actually light a fire? You probably need to get a mason to look at it. Try looking for 'macon' in this site:http://www.pagesjaunes.fr/trouverlesprofessionnels/index.do Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boxmaker Posted March 2, 2008 Share Posted March 2, 2008 If your fire place is an inglenook fire place in an old building like ours (ours was an old farm 300 years), it is likely that they had a ham curing bath in the corner, then they will have had a lot of salt over the years in that area with all of the associated splashing etc this is now coming out with the change of usage. Modern man also requires a hotter, dryer, better sealed house than his predecessors so sandstone falls apart. We managed to slow down the deterioration by painting a hydrofuge on it in a effort to reduce the moisture getting to the salt but the Mason says ultimately we will have to replace the stone. One other stone in a similar situation was so badly eroded that the mason wire brushed the loose flakes down to the bare stone and then coated the whole face with a cement/sand and hydrofuge mixture to bring it back to its original thickness and 'touch wood' so far it has not flaked nor has the new imitation stone come off nor does it look out of place since he managed to match the colour.Sorry this doesn't fix your problem but perhaps it will allow you to discuss a possible solution with your mason. Best of Luck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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