Pointing

[mrc]

Hi

Probably a noddy question this but anyhow...

What is the best way to fill small holes in pointing (caused mainly by for = sale signs I suspect) ?

Ta!

Se=E1n

[Timmy]

sale signs I suspect) ?

Putty

[meow2222]

r sale signs I suspect) ?

1:1:6 cement:lime:sand. Any other water-surviving filler would also work, b= ut not look so good. Avoid anything stronger than the bricks.

NT

[Roland Perry]

In message , at

07:58:14 on Mon, 14 Jan 2013, [e-mail] remarked:

sale signs I suspect) ?

I've been meaning to ask this for ages: My house's mortar is a sort of straw colour, to match the yellowish bricks.

Where can I get/mix something that matches this?

[John Williamson]

Any decent builders' merchant. Standard mortar and add the right dye. Mixing it in small quantities is "fun" if you want anywhere near a perfect match. :-/

[meow2222]

=20

You're certainly not going to get straw coloured mortar by dying grey - and= even if you magically could, the colour would streak out over time.

Light mortar on old houses tends to be lime, 3 parts sand to 1 lime. If you= break up a little piece of the old mortar you should be able to match the = sand size and colour too. Sharp sand is rougher and larger. Straw suggests = lime and yellow to brown sand.

Lime takes ages to set, and should not be exposed to frost during setting. = The traditional way to address this at around freezing point is to cover it= with sacking, but the sacking would need to stay up a fair while. If the w= eather is heading below freezing, I'd leave it for another time.

If its an old house, don't pull out any mortar that's stuck firm, it can do= damage to soft bricks.

NT

[Ian Jackson]

A few added drops of the appropriately coloured emulsion paint might do (buy a small sample pot?).

[David WE Roberts]

Visit a few builders merchants - the colour of the sand varies a great deal and if you find a very yellow sand then this tends to give a yellow(ish) mortar.

[Phil L]

Why would he use grey dye if he wanted a yellow mortar? - I'm no expert but I assumed using yellow dye would be more appropriate?

[Phil L]

Look around for yellowish sand, some paving sands are yellow, and add a yellow / buff dye. You'll need to experiment with small mixes, IE a few spoonfulls at a time to get the dried finish as near as possible

[Andrew Gabriel]

A lot of building sand contains lots of fine highly coloured particles, which can be washed out if you are talking of small quantities, giving a more straw coloured sand. Sharp sand tends to contain less colouring, but it will be harder to use for pointing if you're new to it.

You can also get white cement from a good builder's yard, which won't colour the mortar grey like ordinary cement will.

[F Murtz]

"Standard mortar" is usually grey and dying it would not get what he wants. (unless you were just picking on his english)

[stuart noble]

Cement "dyes" are synthetic iron oxide pigments, so they range from yellow to red to black. They are particularly bright, and some would say gaudy. Yellow ochre or raw sienna would be more subtle, but may not be strong enough to overcome the grey in cement. Anything classed as an earth pigment would be compatible with sand, cement, lime etc

[stuart noble]

I wondered that too

[The Natural Philosopher]

why not get some bal grout and use that instead! add a bit of yellow sand.

Mind you white cement and yellow sand gives a sort of buff-yellow anyway.

[Roland Perry]

In message , at

10:12:50 on Mon, 14 Jan 2013, [e-mail] remarked:

even if you magically could, the colour would streak out over time.

Should I be trying to get white cement then?

It was built 12 years ago.

The "job" is bricking up a circular hole that used to have an extractor fan in it.

[stuart noble]

Is that white cement then? Very bright if it is

[meow2222]

even if you magically could, the colour would streak out over time.

White cement's the thing for modern brickwork, yellow sand, lime to stop it dropping out, and yellow dye might be needed to get a colour match, but dyes aren't all long term stable.

NT

[The Natural Philosopher]

No. its white cement plus pigment plus fine sand.

And IIRC a plasticiser/waterproofer.

I've used a lot of white cement with yellow sand here. Goes as sort of natural wool colour - a sort of light beige.

No visible brickwork uses grey cement.

[stuart noble]

AFAIK all earth pigments are lightfast. One of their strengths