Christian McArdle wrote:
On the flip side, lime mortar houses circa 1900 are great for putting
holes in, as easy as Lego.

You've got to be joking! My 1909 house is terrible for putting holes
in. The mortar and brick are so soft, it is hard to drill anything
without whole bricks disintegrating.

I can often get one in by turning off hammer until it is an inch in.
After that, the hammer is required to advance, and very careful and
delicate hammer can sometimes get deeper without smashing the thing.

Christian.

Well, I meant window sized holes, being careful not to end up with patio
door sized holes ;-)
But yes I agree. I have an intriguing 1st floor brick/lime mortar internal
dividing wall supported on a regular joist. I think the bricks must be the
Victorian equivalent of thermolites as there just does not seem to be any
substance to them. A stubborn finger is all that is needed to transform them
to dust (Discovered after attempting to fix basin to wall... :-(

--
Toby.

'One day son, all this will be finished'