I have to do some repointing on an old stone farmhouse in Normandy.

I've put a couple of pictures at http://www.dthorpe.net/lafolie/

The cement used here is white cement with some gritty sand and some
ordinary sand. What kind of proportion cement/sand/grit sand/ should
I use for the correct hardness of the mortar and to get the sandy
yellow colour shown?

I've looked at all the info I can get about proportion/ hardness of
mortar but it's mainly confused me so far!

Anyone who could look at the pictures and unconfuse me a bit would be
most welcome.

David

David Sparkmunster wrote in message . ..
I have to do some repointing on an old stone farmhouse in Normandy.

I've put a couple of pictures at http://www.dthorpe.net/lafolie/

The cement used here is white cement with some gritty sand and some
ordinary sand. What kind of proportion cement/sand/grit sand/ should
I use for the correct hardness of the mortar and to get the sandy
yellow colour shown?

I've looked at all the info I can get about proportion/ hardness of
mortar but it's mainly confused me so far!

Do't worry about the hardness. Go around to the local quarries and see
if you can spot where they got their sand from. Look at the builders
merchants -not thew French equivalent of B&Q though. Real builders
merchants or find out where the local bricklayers eat/drink and ask
one of them for advice.

The mix you want is 1 shovel of lime to 1 of cement with about 6 or
seven shovels of sand. If you can't find the sand locally almost any
yellow sand will do. You don't appear to need mor than 6 or 7 shovels
of it -that's about 2 bucketfulls.

Slap it on with a gauge - a round ended trowel, straight from the
bucket off a ladder will do. Let it dry for about 2 to 3 hours then
wire brush it back to what you want. Once you get the hang of it it is
quite a pleasant job.

Don't use soap on your hands if you use lime as it reacts to leave a
layer of caustic from the saop on your hands that will not go away
until all the lime has gone. It will crack your skin badly if you use
it long and often. Just wash with water and lightly oil with that muck
they put all over their food over there to help the garlic and snails
slide down.

In article ,
(Michael McNeil) writes:
Don't use soap on your hands if you use lime as it reacts to leave a
layer of caustic from the saop on your hands that will not go away
until all the lime has gone. It will crack your skin badly if you use
it long and often. Just wash with water and lightly oil with that muck
they put all over their food over there to help the garlic and snails
slide down.

;-)

Use a barrier cream whilst you are working with lime too.

--
Andrew Gabriel