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I have a house built in 1910. It has a Yorkshire stone outer wall and brick inner with a cavity.
I need to repoint the outside of the house - thankfully the stone is only on the ground floor so it's a job I can do myself. I have renovated the whole house myself and am pretty handy with this sort of thing - anyway I can't afford to have someone else do it!
I don't know what I should repoint with - lime or cement based mortar. I don't think the current pointing is original as it is raised (it should be flush). Various online resources just say "get a professional in to assess it" which I just can't do.
Any ideas?
It would have been done with lime originally. Cement mortar shouldn't be used with soft materials like stone as it can cause the stone to crack as its too strong (if there is any movement.) plus its breathable so any efflorescence happens on the mortar rather than on the stone.
Hmmm yes thats what I'm thinking. Thankfully I have a place nearby that sells lime mortar mixes, but looking at their guides on how to use scares me!
Modern lime is not really any more faff than cement - don't get suckered into a traditional lime on a house that age.
Look up Baumit / speak to Natural Building Technologies or Mike Wye for exact product.
https://www.mikewye.co.uk/guidesheets/lime-pointing/
Roughly the same age and construction as ours.
Some of our pointing had been touched up with all manner of crap - cement, grout etc, and there were issues with some of the stone setts crumbling. I had an experiment with lime mortar, and it was a pig of a job, so got a specialist in (Tracy Brindley), who did a great job. Within days of the work being done, the crumbly stonework went solid and has given us no more cause for worries.
Whether you do it yourself or get someone in, I'd say you definitely need to work out what was originally used, then use exactly the same stuff again, or you'll end up with problems further down the line. Specialist to identify it and advise, then you do the remedial work?