How to mix lime mortar for pointing stone walls 

After reading some comments I will also add that your video is excellent. Often times I find there is too much mystery in a lot of the videos I have seen on this topic but this is very well explained. Thank you!

Who the blazes thumbed down this helpful video??? Got the wrong plaster on the walls in my house and found this vlog really helpful...thank you for posting it👍

Now this is a GREAT video! You are showing us how your updating your home while giving us an educational video. At the beginning you quickly but thoroughly listed and showed us the tools and ingredients needed. Then you demonstrated quickly and thoroughly how to do it! Beautiful job!

Dan you are a natural in front of the camera, and get videoing by Annalise too - well done to you both :-) Very informative, I will probably never need to do this, but really interesting to see your diy and renovation techniques. Thank you, and I love hearing the family in the background, that's real life right there xx

Maybe one day I'll use your pointing technique on a little cottage in France... living the dream!

Well done, Dan. You have the gift of teaching. You’re very thorough and clear with what you shared. Great videoing too! The room will be beautiful when it’s all put together. Take care, Mary

Very helpful and all the right info including sand specs. Thank you

Great job..... As more Brits move to France it will be helpful for building and reconstruction. Not as many regulations compared to the U.K. but the years of neglect in the buildings is more evident. It also reveals how large the country is and the change in economy in France in the last 200 years, added to that past wars in Europe. Great job Dan in showing your work.😀

My first thought was: " This is an aristocratic person showing skills in masonry works". He would also look great wearing ancient body armor with these old walls in the background. Concerning the lime mortar I was a bit surprised that you can use such a dry mixture. It appears to work out fine on your nice stone walls. Now I wish just to point out that lime should stay moisturised for several days even a week to "cook" and harden as best as possible. The chemical process is ongoing during this time frame and moisture is necessary. By keeping the lime from getting dried up too fast the internal transformation of the lime mortar into a rock like crystal which will be able to last hundreds of years can proceed sufficiently in the most effective way. For this purpose you can either slightly spray water with a vaporiser directly on the walls once the lime is already hard enough to not release more material onto the stone surface. Just a bit of moisturising is ok. Or it is recommended to cover the surfaces were lime is recently applied with "Gunny Sacks" which must be moisturised during these several days when the lime underneath is slowly drying in this way and enabled to become much harder. (Get such natural fibre bags at vegetable markets p.ex. Potatoe bags etc). Another information I like to give here is that Beside adding sand to the lime powder it is possible to add red bricks powder or powder made of clay roof tiles. The powder can be made easy by just smashing old bricks and tiles with a heavy enough self made tool. P.ex. a piece of cast concrete and a pipe stuck into it as a handle. To make a test and check the color effects with a small quantity of trial mixture, just a hammer will do too. There are often old bricks and broken roof tiles around houses undergoing renovations and by grinding them into a powder it will give a great option to include these building materials back into the property. Especially nice when these are very old hand cast roof tiles which are made of ancient materials specific to a geographical location. The shades of earth color, terra cotta, to a hue of pink can all be obtained easy by just mixing the lime with this Do it Yourself powder and once the lime mortar is dried the colors look wonderful combined with stones of a wall or also as full covered areas or in combinations.. Give it a try in some places of your property. Make tests and write down the composition to decide once the lime is dried which "pastel" style of color your prefer in which place. There will be old walls were the visible inclusion of larger particles existing in the bricks or tiles powder into the lime mortar seals will add to the beauty. The ancient building masters, Romans p.ex. used this method because they recycled broken roof tiles in this way. Nothing gets wasted and the results are most beautiful and also unique. Here is an example of a lime mortar mixed with a higher percentage of tile powder giving it a more red color. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-J8A8ROqfWMw.html

You really are a good teacher, Dan. Maybe when you get everything done and are ready to start cooking in this space you can do some cooking vlogs! I know Jack would roll his sleeves up and do some chopping for you.

You guys are really smart, by making a video like this you're probably going to bring in more viewers to your channel. When people go to RU-vid to look up how to learn a specific skill they'll come across your channel in the process. 🤞 I just love watching any video you guys put out, you have a very sweet little family. Very entertaining 😄

That was informative, really enjoyed the video, please may we have more, cheers

Love the dedicated "how to" videos! keep them coming!

I made my own Hearths for my wood stoves all of brick 🧱 it was hard work but rewarding when your finished I never worked with lime and sand .....Great job Dan it is really coming along nice 👍

As you make it look easy,i might tackle the lime skimming myself on my walls. Thankyou.

It looks AMAZING, but what a lot of work! I so admire your attention to detail and persistence - it must be exhausting!

Thanks Dan for the demo. I hope you do more mid-week updates.

Thanks for taking the time to make this video,very informative. I appreciate the patience and skill it takes to point this old building.

Keep up the good work Dan. 😃. And keep giving us videos please 🍂🍁

I too will never have need to point but just love the restoration process Dan and Annalise are undertaking.... living their experience vicariously is so much fun.

nicely done. That’s a lot of patience and work!

You make it look easy, Dan.

Smart lime pointing, and smart decision to move to rural France too.

Wealth of information, you are Dan. Love your channel.

Never going to point a walk however you explained it in such a way that I could have a go and feel quite confident it wouldn’t look horrendous! Thank you

Thanks, Dan! I really admire what you and Annalise are doing to make a lovely home. You are such hard-working folks and your boys are adorable! Hugs from Montana, USA.

No wonder your back hurts after learning over like that for several hours! Thanks for sharing!

Well you are a natural instructor Dan. Annalise you are great at holding that camera. This was very well done. I love seeing your walls getting new life.

Perfect video, all the information I was looking for. Thank you!

Great talk Dan. Explained tremendously well xxx ❤️ it's going to look amazing once finished xx

Cheers Dan. Most helpful especially to know what materials to use from your experience. I’ve spent ages trying to match up and find what sand to use. All Bricos didn’t have much of a clue or limited material.

Aside from LaLande's gardens you are restoring your own French home...amazing and quite soothing, entertaining and enlightening

when i use lime for either pointing or plaster i make in mixer fulls at a time then simply put it into a sealed tub. whenever i need some i simply take t out and work it up, the best stuff is usually 2 weeks old

What synchronicity. I am having some landscaping done at my home which includes some large stone retaining walls. They will need to be have mortar. BUT I live in Melbourne Australia and we have been in COVID lockdown in various forms since March. The longest in the workd, but hey we take 14 cases a day really seriously, unlike it seems anywhere else. Currently we can only travel 5 kms from your home, no visitors, shops closed etc etc. But that means since restrictions eased 2 weeks ago my landscaping could start. However only with one person on site. Not a team as normal. Therefore the my children and I have been the labourers. Last night I found out that they could not do the grout until restrictions eased. I spent the night considering whether I could do it. I am handy have tiled etc, but never grouted rock walls. Voila I woke this morning to your video. I am feeling like it is now doable infact may be enjoyable. Thank you Dan . I love learning what you are up to.

Love watching this demo and more videos on your house renovation. 🌸🌸🌸🌸👍🏼

Cannot wait to see the end result great instructive vlog!

This is interesting, that pointing works out so well.

Your a multi talented guy. Your doing a great job on the stone work

I just love seeing the progress! It looks great.

Great tutorial Dan. The editing skills are coming along great. Keep up the great work and thanks for sharing your little bit of France. Hope you’re all staying safe.

Very interesting thank you Dan for sharing your knowledge to everyone

Great! Thank you so much. Now got to get pointing!

This is probably the clearest lime video I have found on RU-vid. Thank you!

Nice looking Dan. But I think when you said, “quite easy, really” , for you, but not for the average person. I always wanted to build a small English cottage with the wood beam ceilings and the cathedral style windows. We have built two large homes and a cabin in the woods, but never a little Cottage. Really love watching you and your family. 💕🍁💕🎃

That is a ton of work. You did a great job with the video, and thank you for sharing the step by step instructions. If I could give you two thumbs up, I would.

Lovely building be beautiful once you finished love your videos keep them coming

Brilliant Dan

Great demonstration , Dan . You are a man of many skills. .

I watched one restoring video on an old chateau that used horse hair within the rendering mix. They where using it as a plaster for the walls and it was amazing the smooth look of the walls. Your kitchen will be beautiful once you are done.

I like these old stone walls so much - and you do your work with so much passion ( even it is a little bit boring ;-)) Great job, Dan

You look like an expert Very nice work!

Going to try this on my 1860s limestone foundation in New York next week!

It looks GREAT! Well done, Dan. Thanks

Brilliant Dan. I live in a 16th cent cottage, and we are about to do some work and this will help my hubby immensely. X

Very interesting. It looks wonderful Dan. Thanks for sharing your “how to”.

You are definetly getting better at this!

Oh I'm so excited you are doing this little demo @Escape to rural France I might actually give this a go, exciting.

I think I could do that for hours. So satisfying!!

You guys keep delivering the best videos 👍🏻👍🏻

Very interesting Dan. I enjoy watching you bring your home back to life! All the best to you and your family. This looks really good! Great job!

Wonderful demo.Dan skilled in diy patient in his zone with a beautiful assistant Annalise.Love the little Dans in the background.Will value this tutorial when I return to my home in the country.Bravo Dan❤️❤️👏👏

Excellent teaching ability. YEAH, show us whatever you do. It's great to have content from you no matter what it is. Greetings from the USA!

That looks like a good technique! Laborious but will last a long time 👏🥳🥰

Thank you Dan. Interesting. Maybe boring for you but it looks really good. Like to see more DIY tips

Thanks for sharing your skills.

Dan you are amazing so many skills!

It's looking great Dan! I can't wait to see you cooking in your "new" kitchen when it's completed.

I am not sure why I enjoy watching you work but thankyou for sharing your productivity...actually I have used mortar for placing ceramic tiles to make a counter top so I do find it interesting. your finished work is looking beautiful!!! THANK YOU DAN and we remain your honorary, unproductive supporters....I guess we just love seeing your project advance...🍂🍁🍁🍁

Great video and Great information. Thank you. love to the boys

I love all of your videos, and this was so helpful. I will probably never do this kind of work, but the thought process and the detail involved is so applicable to other kinds of work. You folks rock!

Another job well done dan😉it looks very tedious but the end result is worth it🤗🤗🤗👍👍

Lol I don’t know why I sat threw this as I live in a council house in the uk. The closest I could get to this look is wallpaper 🙈 👍 liked the video as always.

That looks really awesome 😎

Thank you for a good work description

Very interesting, thank you for sharing, good job as usual.Love to the family.

Thanks for all the helpful hints Dan. I've got a 183yo wall which is now ready for lime mortaring. I'm glad I watched your vlog as it's been really helpful. Good luck to you both and to the boys.

I enjoyed the demo even though I will never have the need to use this skill it was still very interesting to watch x

Well done Dan. We love watching you renovating the cottage x

Dan have just watched the courtyard work at the chateau,now this,when do you have a rest.Love your blogs particularly when the family is included.

Great and informative video! 😀👍

Great video! You may have given me the confidence to try!

Very nicely done Dan

For not knowing and being self taught… your work is beautiful!! 💞

Thank you Dan for your little tutorial. We will have plenty of this to do when we finally get to France

Great job, Dan. Nice to see your project progressing. You are very hardworking and good in front of the camera too. Can not wait to see your beautiful kitchen finished... and maybe some cooking videos too! I like the close ups Annalise did. It showed what you are doing really well.

Hi Dan I live in Brittany and we’ve renovated our country cottage too, thankfully we’re 90% done, after we had the beams and stonework sand blasted , we repointed the chimney areas on both ends of our house, never done it before, but I LOVED repointing the stone, hated the prepping thou! Hubby has gone on to face walls with stone and I think he’s found his niche lol must say he’s done a fantastic job, but he keeps building walls now!!! Your vlogs are sooo brilliant can’t wait to see you cooking in that kitchen real soon : love from cotes de armour 💕

Very helpful, thanks for sharing.

Thank you for sharing this 😊

Wow. This is by far your best vid. It’s good to see you’ve passed the shyness of your earlier vids, especially early appearances on Stephanie’s vlogs. I enjoy seeing your confidence and ability to speak with conviction about the topic. The house is coming along nicely. Well done 😺😺

Very useful video Dan...thank you....you'll have that place looking great very soon.

Thanks Dan - Great Job

You are a jack of all trades Dan.....it’s wonderful to see all the different things that you and Annalise are doing......just beautiful........Donna in Toronto

Thanks for this! We are in France and have 3 huge fireplaces to re-point. We used your exact method and are extremely happy with the outcome so far! We have only done a tester area but it is perfect! Thanks again!!

Dan I would love any video you put up , you always explain and show in detail I was going to pay someone to do this for us on a small part at our home but not now thank you keep them videos coming , thank you so much

Really enjoyed the video! Can't wait to see completed cottage

Looks amazing Dan well done!

Really helpful, thanks! 👍🏻

Very helpful thankyou

What a great video, thanks for doing and sharing this. I found it so useful 👍👍 ps I need to do some lime plastering would love another vlog as your newly plastered wall looked amazing 😁 🙏

First rate Dan! Thank you and I'll implement your technique and advice! ..AND YOU plant and nurture Gardens too so I hear! Ordinary folk are the salt of the Earth and will always shine through the fog of pretentiousness that flies about nowadays!