How to Reuse Old Lime Mortar On Your Stone Foundation
If you have a historic stone foundation that needs repointing, you’ve probably already figured out that you’ve drawn the short straw and have to chip out the old lime mortar from the foundation to repoint with fresh lime mortar. If you’re wondering how to reuse that old lime mortar to make new lime mortar, or even if you can and should, you’ve come to the right place. I have some recent experience with that. Someone has to be the test subject. Might as well be me. Important consideration for reusing old lime mortar: Old lime mortar can only be reused as sand. Over time, lime mortar essentially turns into limestone,…
Reconstructing a Fieldstone Wall: Part 3, Sloped Section
It’s time for part 3 of our rockin’ Reconstructing a Fieldstone Wall series. Today, we’re talking about the part of the fieldstone wall that is now sloped. It’s a small section, only about 3 feet long, but it caused us more headaches than that time we accidentally purchased decaf coffee and didn’t realize it. This sloped wall was like the tiny pebble in your shoe. How something so small can cause so much grief is beyond me. Good thing I have a blog to tell you all about it! So, let’s get into it with a quick recap to get you up to speed. The plan for the sloped section…
Reconstructing a Fieldstone Wall: Part 2, Demo
Welcome back to our Reconstructing a Fieldstone Wall series. Today, we’re talking about the fieldstone wall demo. Unfortunately, we have to take the wall apart before any reconstruction can happen. I’m using the word reconstruct instead of rebuild intentionally, as we are not starting this wall from scratch. We are using the existing wall footings, the original stone, and a historically comparable lime mortar to bring this fieldstone wall back to life. It’s a small nuance in terminology, but one that I think is important in the realm of historic restoration and preservation. That doesn’t mean we won’t make some design tweaks in the service of putting our stamp on…
