Correct Mortar for old brownstone

Has anyone used limeworks.us to get an analysis of their sample brick and mortar from the back wall of a brownstone built in the late 1800’s? There are so many posts in this forum about using the correct mortar so that you don’t get spalling – but no information about what was used here in Brooklyn in the late 1800’s, where the bricks were manufactured and any other actual hands on useful information. Thanks!

CHM

in General Discussion 1 year and 6 months ago

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cate | 1 year and 5 months ago

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An expert in the following Brownstoner article recommends using weak type-N mortar if you can’t test the original mortar in a lab and custom mix it to get “precisely the right combination of strength, texture and color.” Here is the story on how to maintain old brick: https://www.brownstoner.com/interiors-renovation/brooklyn-brick-historic-how-to-repair-repointing-soft-mortar-spalling-painting-maintenance-tips/

colonialrevival | 1 year and 6 months ago

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The “Rowhouse Manual” by the LPC has a mix that they recommend. PDF page 46, “numbered” page 44. https://www.nyc.gov/assets/lpc/downloads/pdf/lp_rhmanual.pdf

The Dept. of Historic Preservation also included a link to this document from the National Parks Service in my tax credit approval this year: https://www.nps.gov/orgs/1739/upload/preservation-brief-02-repointing.pdf

justinromeu26 | 1 year and 6 months ago

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a user name ANNEP replied under a post by CUBIE123 about her experience with lime works and it was positive. this post was made within the past few days.

with respect to the older mortar and old bricks. in 1984 or 85, i was asked to work on a wall built in 1875. I had no training and knew even less about historic masonry. i can tell you this, when i started pulling brick out, the existing mortar that not only needed to be repointed but had a vine growing through it, was like white paste that had never really hardened or cured and i thought it was mortar somehow had failed. i had no idea what i was dealing with but now know it to be the old lime mortar. You will know it when you encounter it. it remains “pasty” and workable when compared to modern product (in my case, i thought that with the plant matter and open joints, water had gotten in and somehow resoftened the old mortar). i reassembled that wall using one of the common premix mortars from the local store (probably type N) . a few years back i told people on this board what i had done using typ e N on that wall and the person with the screen name RestorationContractor (his name is Bill) wrote that people can get away with using type N mortar. after he said that, i took a ride out on Long Island and looked at the wall and nearly forty years on, everything was fine, no chipping on the bricks.

Steve
brownstonehomeinspection.com