Stone Repair Edinburgh

Stonework damage can occur for a wide variety of reasons. It is important and ultimately less expensive to address stone damage at the earliest opportunity as whatever the root cause of the initial problem is, over time damaged stone becomes increasingly vulnerable to a range of other factors.

Some of the most common primary causes of damage to natural stonework are:

Stone Repair After Weather Erosion

Weather is the most obvious and implacable threat to stonework. Given enough time wind, rain, ice and fluctuating temperatures will reduce any stone structure to dust.

In the Edinburgh area, our prevalent weather systems sweep in from the South and West. It is, therefore, structures that face in this direction that are most at risk from weather-related factors.

Stone Repair After Incorrect Mortar Usage

The use of the wrong type of mortar can contribute significantly to the rapidity of stone damage. Inflexible, impermeable cement-based mortars, used to bond sandstone blocks together, is a particular problem. The sandstone is far softer than the surrounding mortar and therefore erodes quicker. Water can get in between the stone and surrounding mortar; it takes time to evaporate, freezes (and so expands) in low temperatures causing stress on the stone. It may also lead to condensation and dampness; unwelcome guests in inhabited structures or indeed anywhere corrodible items are present.

The solution is to use an appropriate mortar. Muir Stone Repair specialise in Natural Lime based mortars which are more flexible, are permeable to air and enable moisture to evaporate and degrade faster than the surrounding stone allowing re-pointing before any structural damage can occur.