Repointing DIY?

Robby1988

An NHL 3.5.

Looked into lime putty and a hot mix but trying to keep things simple.

It’s the top half of the back of a mid terrace we will be working on, so any imperfections shouldn’t stand out like a sort thumb.

stuart45

I'm surprised your local merchants don't stock NHL 3.5. Our local Jewson does it at £12 a bag, although they can tell it's £25 on the computer. Buying it ready mixed with the sand already added will probably be a lot more expensive. It would be a good idea to have some hessian on hand to cover the work as the sun is still pretty strong at the moment.
I usually mix for about 20 minutes to get plenty of air into the mix and then leave it for another 20 to fatten up.

FreeBear

Robby1988 wrote: »

An NHL 3.5.

Looked into lime putty and a hot mix but trying to keep things simple.

I would have suggested NHL2 as it doesn't go quite as hard as NHL3.5. But if NHL3.5 is all you can get, use it. Mix three parts sand to one of lime and add water to suit. No need to add any plasticisers or other chemicals.

One advantage of using lime putty (and yes, it will work as well as NHL) is that you can mix a tub up, and as long as it has a bit of water on the surface, it will keep indefinitely. I have a tub of putty based plaster that was mixed two years ago. Still good to use after "knocking up".

Robby1988

Just an update to say that the job got done.

£200 for the scaffolding & around £100 for materials so saved a ton & it looks great. Had a bit of a "what have we taken on here" moment when we first started raking out the old cement, but ended up quite enjoying it.

The stonework seemed to change colour & looked transformed as soon as the horrible old grey cement got taken out. I used a small plasterers tool to apply most of the mortar & followed all the advice I had seen on YouTube etc. regarding wetting down & the brushing up afterwards etc. It looks a treat now with all the creamy coloured lime mortar in place, well worth the 3 weekends it took.

bertiewhite

king132 wrote: »

Pointing is difficult to do properly. I've tried and made a complete hash of it - luckily it was a chimney, so out of sight and no one would really notice.

Maybe it's just you. Some people find things easy, others have trouble - I find soldering easy but friends seem to make a right pigs ear of it.

I must admit, my first attempt wasn't great but after some practice, I got into the swing of things and I find it one of the more therapeutic jobs, especially on stone work.