Working on whin built properties in the Scottish Borders I have found that the depth of the stone used, especially on the front of buildings, tends to be fairly thin in some places. This can create problems if not properly maintained using natural lime mortar.For example, I worked on one property where the client wanted the removal of cement mortar pointing that had de-bonded.
For example, I worked on one property where the client wanted the removal of cement mortar pointing that had de-bonded.
What I found, on the removal of the cement mortar, was that the existing lime mortar behind it was crumbly and was not supporting the stones, thus rendering the structure unstable. In order to rectify this, we had to remove a small section of stone at a time and rebuild using traditional lime mortar.
If the previous repointing had been done with traditional lime mortar instead of cement mortar this would not have occurred.