mortar for stone wall

[wrathkeg]

Hi,
I am starting to plan a small stone wall in my garden, about 2' high. What mortar would you recommend? Seems like the simplest recommendation is 3 sharp sand to 1 hydrated lime, left pretty dry. Does that sound sensible?
wrathkeg

 

[wrathkeg]

for anyone interested, lots of useful info on lime mortar here:

http://www.dumgal.gov.uk/CHttpHandler.ashx?id=1492

seems like 3:1 sharp sand to NHL3.5 is the way to go. still interested in hearing about others' experiences.

 

[ladylola]

I'm a joiner by trade but have worked closely with masons for many years even to the extent of doing pointing work myself.
We commonly used lime putty and sharp sand and it was often one of the first jobs to mix up several samples early on to decide which type of sand and proportions gave the best or closest colour to original. Sometimes two sands from different quarries were used in the same mix.
The link mentions brick dust being added and that too is something I've seen albeit rarely. The dust is said to have a pozalanic effect and gives a " set"to the mix. Likewise I've seen ash used but that was more for the repair of lime ash flooring. At Cardiff castle we added charcoal dust ( architects instructions) but that was mainly to achieve the grimy discolouration .
As the article says is sometimes necessary to keep it damp for a while , hessian and a bog standard garden sprayer work for that.