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Talked to a mason in Charleston who only uses lime mortar on old brick
He told me his crew fixed a 1920s church wall with a 3:1 sand to lime mix, and it lets the brick breathe. I always thought modern cement was just stronger, but he said it traps moisture and spalls the face. Anyone else work on historic jobs and switch their mortar type?
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anthonymurray6d ago
That mason knows his stuff, did you ask him about the putty versus bagged hydrated lime? We restored a row of 1890s townhouses and used a similar lime mix after we saw how much damage the old cement repointing had done. It takes longer to cure but the difference in how the wall handles moisture is night and day. What kind of sand did his crew use, a sharp one or something softer?
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felix1476d ago
He mentioned using a softer, rounded sand from a local riverbed. The idea was to match the original mortar's texture and avoid scratching the old bricks. That sharp sand can be too harsh on historic masonry, it doesn't bond the same way. The putty lime he prefers needs that gentler aggregate to work right. It's a slower set, but it lets the wall breathe and move like it was meant to.
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