Debate with my crew about lime mortar vs modern mix: took me 4 hours on one wall section

I was working on a re-pointing job last week on an old house from the 1920s. The homeowner wanted me to use a modern Type N mix but the historical guidelines say lime mortar only. I ended up spending almost 4 hours just on one small wall section because the lime mix kept crumbling on me. My buddy says lime mortar is a waste of time and I should just use what works faster. But the other guys on site swear lime lets the brick breathe and prevents spalling down the road. What do you all do when the old school method fights you like that?

3 comments

3 Comments

olivia_chen351d ago

Old school method fighting you" is right, that lime mix sounds like it was fighting a war. At that rate, you could have built a whole new wall with modern mix in the time it took to do one section. Maybe your buddy has a point about speed, but I guess you're trading time now for not having to redo it all in five years when the brick starts rotting.

henry_kelly5423h ago

@olivia_chen35 nailed it. I had the same thing happen on a old brick garage I was fixing up. Used the fast setting stuff from the home center, thought I was a genius. Three years later I was out there picking chunks of brick out of the grass. Took me twice as long to grind out all the modern mortar and replace it with lime. Your buddy that did the chimney was smart to learn it the easy way, not the hard way like the rest of us.

noahcampbell23h ago

Yeah "trading time now for not having to redo it" like @olivia_chen35 said, that's exactly what happened to a buddy of mine. He did a whole chimney with modern mortar on a 1900s house, looked great for about two years then the brick faces started popping right off in chunks. Had to tear it all down and start over with lime, took him three weekends instead of one. He still brings it up every time we crack a beer.