Recent content by danlightbulb

Well I'm afraid early indications aren't looking good. As the mortar from Saturday and yesterday is starting to dry out, I can already see the drying surface is very white. So this is after trying to make the mix drier, tooling it alot less during application, leaving it more proud before...

This is how much I'm filling the joints, can't do more than this or it just falls off. I've made it a bit drier mix today and I'm using a wider pointing tool so I tool it less.

Any tips for getting better at this please Woody? I'm aiming for a flush finish but it does seem to naturally want to go very slightly recessed when I knock back the mortar. I could try and overfill the joints more. The brush I have is a proper lime churn brush bought for the purpose, not some...

I see. When I was mixing the lime it absorbs water so readily (unlike cement) it hardly needed any turning at all, so I didn't feel the need to use the paddle mixer for it.

Thanks @stuart45 . So you think I may have added a bit too much water in the second batch, to try and make the mix a bit more workable given I don't have a mixer. It's possible yes. Hiring a mixer isn't economic because I'm doing this job a bit at a time at weekends, I would have to buy one...

It feels unlikely to me. These are old bricks, been around nearly 100 years. Yes I'm wetting them first but leaching colour? I doubt it. Also the first wall was the right colour of yellow uniformly. The second batch is showing this edge banding effect on a more white centre. The more I think...

I have mixed using the exact same container for every batch. 3 level container of sand, 1 level container of lime. Mixed dry in a wheelbarrow, very thoroughly so that there are no lumps of sand or lime left and the mix is consistent throughout. Then I split the dry mix into two halves, add...

Hi all. I'm having problems with the lime repointing job I'm doing on my house. The colour is inconsistent across batches and even within the same batch. I deliberately chose a yellow aggregate, Ty Mawr "London". This is being mixed with Saint Astier NHL3.5 in a 3:1 ratio using the same...

I'm repointing in lime currently after also trying cement and hating it (1930s solid wall house). Lime is loads better imo but I don't know about your potential wall ties problem. Are you absolutely sure it's cavity? What's the total wall thickness? Here's mine. Main problem I had was...

The Pegler stopcock I bought only goes about 2.5 turns full open to full close which doesn't seem right. Can anyone confirm?

25mm won't fit behind the pipes unless I somehow prop them away from the wall. I was actually thinking of fitting trace heating to it once I get electrics installed out there. This would protect the stop tap and incoming copper feed as well which can't be isolated or drained off.

That's what I was going to use but everyone seems to now use liquid thread sealer.

I've been seeing some stuff online that with bib taps it's better to use a liquid thread sealer over ptfe. Gripaloc, loctite 577, or that rapid blu stuff seem all well used. However typically I can't just go and buy these from screwfix, toolstation or b&q - they all have to be ordered online...

There is no inside. The feed is tee'd of the main incoming supply pipe underground, and comes up through the floor in the outhouse. How do I space the pipework sufficiently off the wall to allow for insulation? Current pipework. Comes up from floor goes right and then stop tap then continues...

Yeah ok, actually I can do it with only one bend if I rotate the outside tap elbow plate 90 degrees and come in from the side. The elbow plate for the tap gets the pipe very close to the wall leaving no space for insulation. Need to space it off the wall somehow, looking neat and professional?