This project involved Lime Pointing the Gable & Rear elevations to this Period Farmhouse in Rimington, Near Clitheroe Lancashire. The farmhouse is built from a local Limestone, which is a very impervious material and does not allow the natural evaporation of moisture. The stone walls had previously been pointed with a cement based mortar. This cement pointing does not allow the walls to breathe, dampness is therefore trapped within the stone walls. There was a large amount of water ingress in the stone wall caused by trapped moisture.
Our Builders Contractors remove the cement pointing to allow the Stone wall to breathe. Once the cement mortar pointing is removed the stone wall dries out quickly.
Our Restoration Team use small air tools to remove the hard cement from the wall. Its is very important that all the cement pointing is removed from the joints of the stonework. If any of the cement pointing is left in the joint this will cause slow evaporation of moisture from the new Lime Mortar joint.
Once all the cement mortar is removed, we then wash the elevation removing any dust or debris from the joint. Often voids in the stonework appear due to decay which need to be rebuilt before pointing can commence. Voids in the stone wall are filled with lime mortar. For large gaps we use pinning stone to pack the joint out.
We used a Hydraulic Lime Mortar or NHL Lime to point the elevations.
