Pointing gun mortar

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Bedfordshire
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when building my 'kit' conservatory, I installed a Durabase base which has a brick slip base which was supplied with a pointing compound made by Parex for use in a pointing gun - this was dead easy! I am now going to repoint the adjoining house wall and thought I would use the gun with the same (thus matching) mortar mix.

That sounds easy enough, but try as I might I can find no local stockist, contacting Parex, they tell me they sell direct to the public but at £21.97+VAT plus £10.95+VAT delivery (I need one bag!), that works out at just under £40 - a lot of dosh!

Is there a more readily available alternative product?
 
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I've no idea what Parex finishes like. Why not make your own sand and cement mix or a sand and lime mix?
Experiment to see which mix suits you and the gun.
There's a recent post on this subject on this Building Forum.
 
I've tried several standard mortar mixes, the problem seems to be the sand aspect. You see when you put the mortar into the gun and pull the trigger, it simply compresses the mix squeezing the water out of it, but not moving the mortar out through the nozzle! Thus making it useless. I think the sand makes it far to heavy. Parex makes a mortar mix that is more like a cake mix (flour and water) it has 'body' but flows through the pointing gun with ease
 
Sounds as if you've made your mix a bit stiff- I've been using a pointing gun (which came as part of a Helifix crack stitching kit) for sand/cement repointing & it works quite well. You have to have the texture of the mix just right though- slightly creamier than you'd use for bricklaying- and be prepared for occasional to frequent blockages (empty gun back into muck bucket, wash all parts of gun through with clean water, reload). Still a lot easier and neater than bodging around with a hawk and a trowel.
 
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St Astier who manufacture all types of lime mortar, offer some gunable mortar, the secret is that it contains tallow as a lubricant and is available in loads of colours. In 2001 it was £15 for a 5 Kg tub (ready mixed).
Frank
 

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