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To the Editor,

Kudos for Nick Inman and his efforts matching old mortars and .

And well done to The Connexion for bringing it to a wider audience. There are many of us anglophone owners of bâtiments anciens who would welcome more such hands-on DIY articles.

As one who has also tried (with varying degrees of success) to match 250-year old lime mortar, I'd like to pass on below my own half-cent's worth of artisanal advice for mortar matching: 

If you have limited supplies of old sand and crumbled lime mortar, you can use the "jeter" (throwing) technique. 

This tip, passed on to me by a local artisan, is not for the faint-hearted or weak-shouldered! 

You use new sand and lime to make the mortar and re-point as necessary. With the re-pointed mortar still soft and fresh, you throw (hard!) handfuls of old sand/crumbled mortar at it. 

Much of it will fall away (collect the precious stuff on a plastic sheet for reuse), but some will stick and leave you with a nicely weathered ‘old’ mortar. 

You can also try dampening the old mix before throwing, to help it stick. But watch out! From experience, throwing even for a small area, at best you will have a sore arm and a painful shoulder and at worst you will have a self-inflicted "arrêt de travail"! 

If you're not hurting by the end of it, you've probably not been throwing hard enough.

Another blending/weathering technique is to wash-away the top layer. Make your mortar from lime and new sand, re-point and allow to set for a while (half a day, one day, two days... experience will tell). 

Gently wash away the top layer with a fine mist from the hose, until you achieve the desired result. 

Although new lime mortar which has been left unwashed (or unbrushed) is nice and bright and cheerful, it usually stands out like a sore thumb next to its ancient weathered ancestor... washing away will leave you with more of the natural sand colour showing through (which, with some sand experimentation, generally allows you to get closer to the look of the ‘old’).

For anyone new to working with lime (and let's face it, most DIY-ers coming from outside France probably haven't had much recourse to using only lime), I can recommend Samuel Legablier's book, Enduits et joints à la chaux. 

Kai Weber, Drôme

Read more:  Why authentic sand is so crucial in restoring a French farmhouse

To the Editor,

Having read Nick Inman's article, I was surprised and disappointed that he used cement in the mix. 

Not only is it an unpleasant colour, but it also makes the mortar too hard which impinges on its important quality of flexibility protecting the softer stone from cracking.

We have pointed and repaired a lot of walls in our house in Gironde. I use a mix of five parts white sand to one part yellow sand with 5% lime chaux.

This produces a good match to the existing colour and an easily workable mix. 

When repointing it is vital not to pressure-wash the old wall as this washes out a lot of the mud which is binding the stone together and drastically weakens the wall. 

Just scrape out any loose mortar or mud and remove ant plants etc growing in the cracks then fill as deeply as you can. 

I use a PnuPoint machine or mortar bag (like a heavy duty icing bag) to fill the joints to the full depth and then finish with a trowel and stiff brush once the mortar has partially cured.

Michael Blackmore, by email

Do you have any techniques you would like to share to help other restore their properties? Let us know at letters@connexionfrance.com