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Lime mortar


johnabbott
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St. Astier Lime (old and famous in the lime line) is in the Dordogne but may have distributors elsewhere. When I searched for lime render last summer, I eventually tracked down someone near  Rodez who ran a small business distributing Eco-home products and I managed to get enough  for the relatively small amount I needed. Alternatively, knocking your own up is not very difficult, cheaper and there's plenty of information around re how to do so...
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  • 2 weeks later...

hi

 ok for information how to knock up your own look here ... http://www.lime.org.uk/  a firm I used to use in Wales

  also look here for bagged stuff  ,    http://www.socli.fr/version_anglaise/products.asp I am trying Renocal at the moment for pointing up a very rough stone wall .will post pics of progress if you want

                  dave

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Hi Geranium - I can't find the details of the place near Rodez however I know I located it by googling 'Galtane' and working from there. It was great stuff for a fine final finish and came ready mixed (and therefore  not cheap). But having since also repointed several internal stone walls with lime    (Terracal (sp?) (Point P standard)  I would definitely recommend the Terracal for price and easiness (it requires mixing with water) if you're planning small areas of pointing and don't want to be bothered by buying sand as well as lime. For limewashing the walls plain chaux from the bricos is fine and simply involves mixing with water and leaving for a couple of days before you use it. (A 12 Euro bag will give you more than 100 litres of limewash!). It gives a lovely matt finish and can be coloured with pigments usually available from the Bio-marches (there's one in Albi and another in Rodez that I know of) or alternatively ordering it from any of the many lime places in the UK. For straightforward advice on how to make your own try:  www.breckland.gov.uk/limewash_advice_sheet.pdf 

For expert ongoing discussion on why and how to use different types of lime i.e. hydrated and hydraulic (as well as numerous other interesting bits about renovating old houses sympathetically) try www.periodproperty.co.uk which I find really helpful ...

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[quote user="johnabbott"]Anyone know of firms selling ready mix lime mortars and renders, in decent quantities, in the south west of France, as they do at Old House Store,[/quote]

Thanks for info, sorry I havent replied sooner but been away. Continuing on , "The Old House Store" have very good pamphlets you can download and links to other sites with lots of info on all things to do with period house renovation. I took 1cu mt of their coarse stuff down by trailer but obviously transport cost is high. I have mixed up my own but they dont recommend that a concrete mixer is used and its hard work otherwise. I will try Galante.  Thanks

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Not sure why lime mortar has to be obtained specially from specialist stores, after all French builders use it day in and day out.  I bought Hydrated lime from the local builders merchant (Point P also sell it) and knocked it up with sharp sand (there is no other sort of sand in France it seems), in proportions of 2 lime to 7 sand, just as my builder does (when he is here which is not often but that is another story) and it looks just fine, nice rustic colour[:D]

The trick is not to do it when it is hot or threatening rain, as it does not like the sun or rain whilst drying.

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"We all want to get a particular colour - i.e. the shade we fancy on our walls.  What to do?"

That can be a problem and if you want a particular shade not obtainable from a local materials mix you are into buying in from specilaists or painting it.

I was really referring to knocking up lime mortar for building stone walls and exterior and interior jointing.  The trick here is to use the same sand, lime and mix quantities.  There are of course regional differences between sand colours and here you can get different limes, the hydrated one giving a much paler cream shade when mixed with the sand from the Tarn. This hue/shade/colour is quite common around here and used in all the bastide villages for the exteriors, so any other shade would look odd.

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[quote user="Geranium"]Thanks Dave, any practical help and photoswould be great.[/quote]

hi

 ok rember this is an old rough wall and  there are not many flat stones to point up. I have scraped out the joints with a slaters hammer mostly moss and dry mud ,and then jet washed it slightly just to get rid of the dust .

The mix is 1 part renocal and 3 parts sand , the sand will determine the final colour, first put in nearly all the water in the mixer then the renocal and mix it to a putty , then put in the sand and leave to mix it will look too dry  but leave it mix well before you add more water. Then with a gauging trowel and a mortar board coat the wall push it well into the gaps and have a bucket of small stones handy to fill in large gaps .

             ok 2 -3 hours later  give the wall a shave with a trowel I am using a  long pointing trowel in pics. I am just trying to get it flatish first , when you locate a flat stone just brush it with a wire brush to expose it ( use a brass one if you have soft stone )  then brush it with a soft brush .

               Dave

http://s83.photobucket.com/albums/j311/daveolive/render/

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"but what about this mixing pigments business. We all want to get a particular colour - i.e. the shade we fancy on our walls.  What to do?"

White sand (yes, you can buy it in France), Lime and pigment, but you will need to be like a chemist in the measurements for the pigment with each batch you mix up, really tiny, tiny quantities.

Alternatively by one of the proprietary brands premixed in sacks, more expensive but reliable, about 24 shades available.

Chris

 

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ChrispyPea wrote: "you will need to be like a chemist in the measurements for the pigment with each batch you mix up, really tiny, tiny quantities."

One way to simplify this bit is to "dilute" the pigment with sand at (say) 10:1 0r 50:1 before you start and then use this mixture to colour the actual mix batches. It will reduce the effect of tiny measurement errors. If you adjust things right you can achieve a simple mix ratio like one teacup of sand/pigment to a bucket of sand/chaux.

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