Pointing with lime mortar

[jesteh]

I am trying to repoint a wall on my house using hydraulic lime and sharp sand mix (3:1). The problem I have is trying to get the colour looking right and matching closely the original lime mortar which is very light grey (although it doesn't have to be an exact match as I'll have to repoint entire side soon).

Hydraulic lime is pure white so the colour of mortar is whatever colour the sand is. If I use yellow sand, it comes out a very strong pale yellow colour which looks terrible. If I use red sand, it comes out pink which is not good either.

I am wondering if I can use silver sand to try and get the colour right but I am not entirely sure how good silver sand is pointing (I understand its very fine). Another alternative is to use colour additive but I gues that will eventually fade leaving me with whatever colour sand is behind.

Any advice is very welcome.

 

[Nige F]

I know the sort of pointing - i think is it different in colour to the lime mortar behind - deeper in the joint . It could even be portland cement mortar , that was used in Victorian times for the London Sewers , because it was a new longer lasting thing @ the time - and portland stone is grey

 

[Matt K]

If this thread is still active, I have exactly the same problem. I've repointed using singleton NHL 3.5, using a 1/3 mortar to sand mix. It looks absolutely luminous compared to the original. Now, I understand that it will always look brighter then 130 year old mortar, but is there any recommended mix or sand that will dull it down a little maybe?

I've put a link to a pic below so you can see. The new stuff is top right:

Any advice very much appreciated!