Upcoming Exhibition and Presentation at the Greater Philadelphia Historic Home Show

We’re very excited to extend an invitation to you to join us at the Greater Philadelphia Historic Home Show Show March 10-11 in Oaks, PA. Visit our display booth where we will be giving demonstrations and providing a complete package of resources for your historic building.

LimeWorks.us produces appropriate historic masonry repair materials for respective applications to ensure a long-term service life for the conservation of our region’s cultural heritage as represented by its vintage architecture.

Andy deGruchy, owner of LimeWorks.us will presenting on the importance of proper repairs for vintage masonry.

How to repair vintage masonry successfully the first time with in-kind repairs that don’t offend.

 Many historic homes that have had no restoration work are in better condition than others that have been repaired improperly. Learn from the fatal mistakes homeowners and professionals often make regarding historic buildings. Understand how damaging Portland Cement has caused headaches and sometimes irreversible destruction to countless historic homes built during the 18th, 19th and early 20th Centuries. Educated homeowners are able to properly repair their historic homes the first time. Come to this one hour presentation and learn how to embark on a successful repair campaign on your historic home.

Also, take a few minutes to listen to a recent interview Andy had with the National Center for Preservation Technology & Training. A few of the topics discussed include confusion surrounding lime terminology, the application of lime mortars, master stonemason Ian Cramb and our efforts here at LimeWorks.us to educate others on the importance of using lime.

Get a discounted ticket to the show.

Happy New Year from LimeWorks.us

Saucon Valley 19th Annual Holiday Gathering

Join us at the 19th Annual Saucon Valley Conservancy Holiday Gathering, December 5th starting at 6pm. Our friend, Ian Cramb will be in attendance signing his newest book The Stonemason’s Gospel According to Ian Cramb.

Heller Homestead- 1890 Friedensville Rd, Bethlehem PA

Reconstitution of Historic Lime Mortar and Renders FAQ Friday

Today Randy has another great post about an interesting technique for historic preservation. This is something Andy deGruchy will be speaking about at the upcoming Greater Philadelphia Building & Facility Maintenance Show November 9th. Signup to participate in this free conference and visit the LimeWorks.us Group exhibit booth.

Q: I want to restore my old stone house and have heard there are ways to reuse the mortar already in my building during the repointing process. Can you explain how to do that and what are the positive and negative impacts?

A: Reusing old historic mortar is possible in more ways than one. The first methodology would be to leave sound mortar alone and keep using it for as long as possible, only doing “patch” pointing in areas that need to be fixed. In cases where a building owner desires to repoint the whole building you can follow the backyard guidelines below.

Of course if one were to follow these guidelines then there must be a conservation mindset in the back of their head. Knowing this, a mortar analysis would be highly recommended to help conclude an appropriate mortar mix design.

Reconstitution of historic lime mortar and renders

The purpose of this procedure is to separate the lime from the historic aggregates to reproduce a mortar joint or render while retaining as much of a buildings historic fabric as possible without the use of acids.

Beginning with the removal of any loose, cracked or friable render or mortar in the gentlest means possible put debris aside.

Using a concrete barrel mixer place all saved debris in the mixer with large heavy stones or steel balls, about the size of a bowling ball. Make sure that the chosen crushing medium is harder than the debris to minimize contamination of the crushed aggregate by foreign matter. The mixer should be filled only to the point where the crushing medium will effectively fall from the apex of the mixing rotation and crush the debris to what would be the consistency of a pre-blended dry bagged mortar. This process should take anywhere from 20 – 60 minutes depending the quantity of the material loaded in the mixer (less is faster) and the desired fineness of the aggregates. Be sure not to over mix. Over mixing will result in the deformation of the aggregate.

Once the debris has been crushed to the desired particle size, place in 5-gallon pails or wheelbarrow for the separation process.

Place the end of a hose running water beneath the crushed aggregate. While the container is filling with water be sure to slowly agitate the wet aggregate mix with a hoe or trowel. Be sure to allow the fine lime particles to spill over the sides of container to be discarded. Make sure that the larger aggregate stays settled to bottom of the container for reclamation. This process should take approximately 20-60 minutes depending on amount of crushed debris and its binder to aggregate ratio. The process is completed when the water runs fairly clear and the remaining fines in the mixture can be easily made into a ball that resembles saturated beach sand.

Upon completion of filtering the lime from the aggregate allow to dry in the open air and strong sun by spreading it out on as thinly as possible over a tarp.

Once the aggregates are dry, the large particles of broken stone, any other foreign matter and large unbroken debris can be dry screened out using the desired sieve size. Typically anything retained on a #4 sieve can be discarded.

Now that the aggregate is dried and sieved, new mortar formulations can commence. Depending on the amount of work to be done with the reclaimed aggregate and the amount that was actually reclaimed, determination of how much other similar aggregate is to be gauged in to the new repointing or rendering mix.

To learn more about this technique please visit us at the Greater Philadelphia Building & Facilities Maintenance Show November 9-10 in Oaks PA.

-LimeWorks.us (Linked-in : Blog : Facebook : Twitter)

Visit us at the Greater Philadelphia Building & Facility Maintenance Show

We’re very excited to extend an invitation to you to join us at the Greater Philadelphia Building & Facility Maintenance Show November 9th and 10th. Visit our 30 foot display booth where we will be giving demonstrations and providing a complete package of resources for your historic building.

The LimeWorks.us Group is comprised of three independent organizations serving the commercial facilities community. Entech Engineering offers comprehensive assessment, planning and design services with full-service civil, environmental, structural, mechanical and electrical engineering with historic preservation and LEED driven architectural  work since 1981. Thoro System is a specialty supplier of masonry repair materials for 75 years. LimeWorks.us produces appropriate historic masonry repair materials for respective applications to ensure a long-term service life for the conservation of our region’s cultural heritage as represented by its vintage architecture.

Also, Andy deGruchy will be speaking at the conference November 9th at 10 am in room A on restoration of historic masonry.

 Maintaining Exteriors of Vintage Masonry Buildings can Cost Less if Addressed as ‘Object Art’, Less IS More

As the saying goes, “If it’s not broke, don’t fix it.” The same principle can be applied to masonry repair work and especially for qualified masonry restoration work. By taking the approach of an art conservator, who would only touch the painting or object art to mend what is broken or missing if even at all, one can adopt a similar philosophy for the repair of a vintage masonry building. In the final analysis more ‘good’ can be accomplished for the building, and potentially save considerable expense for the owner, when a slow and minimalistic approach to solving problems is carefully employed. In contrast many buildings are otherwise irreversibly damaged, and only put into a premature cycle of re-repair, due to hasty decisions carried out to perform expensive contracts with no proof that the remedy is needed or will work. Andy will show that Less IS More.

Also, take a few minutes to listen to a recent interview Andy had with the National Center for Preservation Technology & Training. A few of the topics discussed include confusion surrounding lime terminology, the application of lime mortars, Ian Cramb and our efforts here at LimeWorks.us to educate others on the importance of using lime.

Register to attend this free conference.