This project involved Lime Pointing to the Curtain Wall on Brougham Castle, Penrith ,Cumbria. Our Specialist Restoration Contractors spent 3 weeks Lime Pointing this Ancient Monument. The Castle is located in the Eden Valley of Cumbria.
The Lime Pointing was only required in the worst effected areas of the castles curtain wall. These areas were marked out by our site manager and monuments manager from English Heritage.
We removed the old cement based mortar from the Curtain using only Hand Tools. This was a slow and involved process. Our Skilled restoration team take care not to damage the existing Stonework. When our skilled Restoration Contractors work on Castles we only use hand tools to remove hard cement based mortars. Some of the more intrusive plant growth to the curtain wall was also removed.
Due to the remote location of the works, it was not cost effective to erect scaffolding. We used ladders & working platforms to gain access to the Curtain Wall. The site was located round the back of the castle where access to the work site was hard. There was no roads or access paths to this part of the castle. The Lime Pointing Mortar was mixed on the car park and wheel barrowed to the site location. We used a locally sourced sand to ensure that the existing would blend with the existing Stonework.
We only had to Lime Point small isolated sections of the wall, these were where the wall had movement or cracks had formed. The cracks were flushed with water to remove any dirt or dust. Our Restoration Building Contractor then packed the cracks and joints with lime mortar.
Some of the joints in the curtain wall needed packing as the original cement mortar had caused decay and larger voids. We packed the voids with a Lime Putty based mortar and pinning stones. A small wooden lath was used to compact the Lime Mortar into the joints. Once the backing lime mortar had been packed it was allowed to dry out of 3-4 days before the area was pointed.
Here you can see where we have replaced the pointing with Lime Pointing. The Lime Pointing was covered with Hessian and kept damp for 7 days to allow to cure. During the curing period the Lime Pointing was then tamped back using a stiff churn brush.
The Lime Pointing was finished with a brush to give a weathered look.
