before and after picture of repointing a stone house

Repointing a House (Before & After)

 

This old cottage in Holcot was in a sorry state of repair. The stonework to the front of the house was painted in a cheap attempt to waterproof the surface.  Obviously, this didn’t work and the paint started to lift as the stone was breathing. Now the cottage looked ugly, but not beyond saving.

Our first port of call was to carefully remove all the paint without damaging the stone, this was time-consuming but well worth it. We were then able to see lots of repairs using unsuitable cement mortar. The use of cement mortar on stonework should be avoided. Northampton sandstone is soft, therefore traditional lime mortar should be used. Note: The mortar should always be softer than the masonry.

After raking out the joints, we noticed the original lime mortar was coming to the end of its life. It had done its job and kept most of the stonework from decaying by allowing the building to breathe. We continued raking out the joints and inset pieces of stone where needed. The lime mortar was matched to the original colour by producing small biscuit samples because different sand colours produce different mortar colours. We decided to use the building sand from our local quarry which was a nice golden colour, combining it with twice-washed sharp sand. This gave not only the correct colour but the same texture (odd pieces of stones).

The stonework was then pointed and lightly brushed. What a difference it made to the house, it now looks happy again! If you have a project you would like us to look at, please call on 07973 883532. Or follow us on Instagram to view the complete renovation of this property.