sandstone woes

[waggonway]

I have just repointed my garden wall, 7' high Victorian brick, about 30 yards long. Some task I can tell you. The problem I have now is that there are sandstone coping stones on top of it all. In a few palces they have crumbled away down to a depth of 4-5''. I am trying to restore them and am looking for some advice.
I have thought of a couple of plans...I have collected all the loose material and I thought about building it up with cement, dyed red, and pressing the collected loose sand into the wet cement. Alternatively, build up with cement and mix the loose stuff with waterproof pva and "skim" over the surface.
Does anybody have any thoughts on this?

 

[noseall]

Using opc (cement) based mortars to repair sandstone is probably not a good idea. It may be better to coat the weathering surface with a decent water repellent.

 

[Nige F]

I have just repointed my garden wall, 7' high Victorian brick, Does anybody have any thoughts on this?

I hope you did it weatherstruck ....Not bucket handle

 

[waggonway]

I plan to coat all the wall and the coping stones in waterseal when it is finished. I need to build up the worn down bit first and I am trying to get it to match in with the rest of the copes.
Not sure what weatherstruck pointing is, I rubbed down all the joints to leave the surface of the bricks a few mil proud.

 

[seasickstevie]

I hope you did it weatherstruck ....Not bucket handle

Crush 'n' brush every time.

 

[seasickstevie]

... to leave the surface of the bricks a few mil proud.

Sounds good to me.
Weatherstruck never looks good with Victorian commons.