Stone Wall Repair

“ The stone walls are the most common structural elements in older buildings. Beds made ​​of stone hewn, squared rubble or raw, they are exceptionally bonded to the lead in the case of equipment or noble size most often rigged a bed of lime mortar. In this latter case, two types of seals could be identified: the "alive" joints, close (less than 5 mm) shallow and wide joints. Mortar joints stone walls are vulnerable to weathering and especially water. Their permanent exhibition causes them to wear depth, crumbling mortar which can be accentuated by movements related to problems Structural (bouffement, spill, cracking ...), and / or growth of vegetation. The method is to clean and fill the vacuum seals by lime mortar. After the preparation phase (cleaning and humidification media), it is to distinguish between two types joints regards the composition and mortars application tools.

Surface Preparation:

• 1 Reset damaged parts of the mortar. For cleaning sharp joints, a fine tool is preferably used, type blade, saw blade. To remove the mortar joints more large, one can also use a chisel or carefully chisel with a hammer. The resulting joint must have a depth and a sufficient gripping surface to ensure good performance the new O: about 20 mm deep for seals alive, about 50 mm wide joints.
• 2 Clean and dust seals (eg with a brush hard).
• 3 Sprinkle the joints with water to saturation, for better the mortar.

Manufacture mortars:

• 1 For butt joints, mix about 1 part lime white with two volumes of sand sifted end (0-2 mm).
• 2 For wide joints, mix about 1 part lime white with three volumes of coarse sand (between 0-3 and 0-6 mm)
• 3 Add water to a consistency facilitating application, more liquid in the case of butt joints, thicker in the case of large volumes of joints.

The application of mortar:

• 1 In the case of large gaskets, projecting the trowel mortar to fill the joints to bare siding. If the volume to filling is too large, it may be useful to the file stone fragments in the joint to reduce the volume of mortar to use. However, be careful that pieces do not protrude from the wall surface.
• 2 In the case of butt joints, filling joints using a spatula, taking care to fill the joint to the bottom, without leaving gaps.
• 3 After a minimum the mortar, we can, for the sake contemporary aesthetics, choose to clean the stones dry brush, then rinse with a damp sponge regularly.
• 4 A fashion trend is to deliver the stone digging the joints, for an aesthetically poor result