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Stonemasonry

130 year old stone house wall repair

Anonymous user 03/03/2024 - 3.07 PM

My house is 130 years old and made of stone. My question is two part really. Part one is that I do not know how to identify what the stone is (Googling hasn't help using various search term and images etc) Can anyone give me some pointers? And two, at some point a previous owner has re-rendered with something. This is now so dry and crumbly I can brush it off with my hand. I have looked closely at the walls of the house and I can not tell if the house was originally built without mortar and the crumbly stuff barely left is in fact old render, or whether the mortar is so far gone, that what I am seeing in there is the last particles that are left! I do not know the best way to to go about getting these walls tidied up and I am guessing that I will at least need to know what the walls are made of to go forward! Is this likely to be a case of smearing the walls with something (I prefer an uneven finish) which I can do myself or am I looking at needing more than that? Sorry for my ignorance! Thank you for any advice with this.

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2 Answers

Anonymous user

Hi maybe you can find out if there are any local quarry where you live, more than likely your house would have been built from the stone that quarries produced or still produces or your local council. two, your second question lime mortar will fizz violently in brick cleaning acid. It can be most commonly white or cream in colour, but if local aggregates were dark coloured, the actual mortar can be quite red, brown or even black – if coal dust or charcoal was added. It still fizzes violently in acid. Lime is soft – often you can crumble it in your fingers, sometimes it will scratch with your fingernail. Cement mortar will fizz a bit, but there is a very noticeable difference – it is slow, bubbles a bit, but you dont get the violent fizzing and frothing that you’ll get from lime. It is usually very hard and flinty. Be careful tho if you were to try the above method to see which mortar you house is built with. I would carefully remove samples of the mortar from the stone walls as the (brick acid may stain the stone) hope this helps

Answered11 May 2014

Anonymous user

If you only have a fine layer remaining I suggest that the building has been Lime-washed (basically lime putty mixed to a paint-like consistency and brushed on) which is something you could certainly do yourself, If you are mixing in a colour make sure you keep the same mix ratios. Treat Lime with great respect! Even Old Lime continues to react with water so it will burn your eyes and lungs Use Full Goggles and respirators when rubbing off the old and mixing as well as applying. With respect to what stone it is as Masonry builders suggests, Stone didn't usually travel far as it is heavy, so the locals can probably tell you it's exact name. As a guide Granite is very hard, course(rough) and crystalline in appearance usually grey or black. Sandstone is soft and formed in layers which are visible on the surface, a full range of colours from reds through yellows, greys and even greens Portland Stones are similar appearance to Sandstones, but harder without the graining. I hope this helps

Answered19 January 2015