A stone wall in France with lime mortar grouting being applied. Right: unapplied. Centre: lime mortar applied with a trowel. Left: lime mortar applied and then beaten back and brushed with a churn brush.
Lime mortar or torching[1][2] is a masonry mortar composed of lime and an aggregate such as sand, mixed with water. It is one of the oldest known types of mortar, used in ancient Rome and Greece, when it largely replaced the clay and gypsum mortars common to ancient Egyptian construction.[3]
With the introduction of Portland cement during the 19th century, the use of lime mortar in new constructions gradually declined. This was largely due to the ease of use of Portland cement, its quick setting, and high compressive strength. However, the soft and porous properties of lime mortar provide certain advantages when working with softer building materials such as natural stone and terracotta. For this reason, while Portland cement continues to be commonly used in new brick and concrete construction, its use is not recommended in the repair and restoration of brick and stone-built structures originally built using lime mortar.[4]
Despite its enduring utility over many centuries (Roman concrete), lime mortar's effectiveness as a building material has not been well understood; time-honoured practices were based on tradition, folklore and trade knowledge, vindicated by the vast number of old buildings that remain standing. Empirical testing in the late 20th century provided a scientific understanding of its remarkable durability.[5] Both professionals and do-it-yourself home owners can purchase lime putty mortar (and have their historical mortar matched for both color and content) by companies that specialize in historical preservation and sell pre-mixed mortar in small batches.[6]
^"What is torching?". www.lime.org.uk. Retrieved 2022-06-12.
Limemortar or torching is a masonry mortar composed of lime and an aggregate such as sand, mixed with water. It is one of the oldest known types of mortar...
hydroxide, also called slaked lime or air lime that is used to make limemortar, the other common type of limemortar, which sets by carbonation (re-absorbing...
finishing step in new construction. Traditionally, mortar was made with lime and sand, producing lime putty. In the early 20th century, masons began using...
mixed with slaked lime to make an inorganic−organic composite mortar that had more strength and water resistance than limemortar. Sticky rice played...
back to calcium carbonate unless slaked with water to set as lime plaster or limemortar. Annual worldwide production of quicklime is around 283 million...
It has many names including hydrated lime, caustic lime, builders' lime, slaked lime, cal, and pickling lime. Calcium hydroxide is used in many applications...
stone walls to be laid with clay mortar, excepting 3 inches on the outside of the walls … which (are) to be good limemortar and well pointed." The choice...
with a mortar made of sand and roughly burnt gypsum (CaSO4 · 2H2O), which is Plaster of Paris, which often contained calcium carbonate (CaCO3), Lime (calcium...
Lime plaster is a type of plaster composed of sand, water, and lime, usually non-hydraulic hydrated lime (also known as slaked lime, high calcium lime...
Whitewash, calcimine, kalsomine, calsomine, or lime paint is a type of paint made from slaked lime (calcium hydroxide, Ca(OH)2) or chalk (calcium carbonate...
use. The mortar usually used with them in original construction was limemortar, which is much softer and weaker than modern cement based mortar and can...
craft of shaping and arranging stones, often together with mortar and even the ancient limemortar, to wall or cover formed structures. The basic tools, methods...
facilitated by the introduction of limemortar, as Ethiopian stonemasons regularly struggled in finding cement to make mortar. The innovation of bridge building...
from lime and ash. In mortar, the oldest binder was mud. According to finds at Catal Hüyük in Turkey, mud was soon followed by clay, and then by lime in...
ridge. A partial form of grouting was also practiced, where an external limemortar grouting was applied, but only on the spaces between slates. This was...
royal family. The entire fort structure has been built with stone and limemortar. The fort is built in a zig-zag form, with four entry gates in the shape...
with Nanak shahi bricks in limemortar. The details of the ornamentation are in masonry. The surface might have had a lime plaster as the surface treatment...
that the original limemortar used in the viaduct's construction was inadequate and the decision was made to replace it with cement mortar. However, the replacement...
as Baliya Dev.[citation needed] The temple is architecturally rich. Limemortar, marble and tiles have been used in constructing the structure. The shutters...
distinguished types of materials appropriate for the preparation of limemortars. For structural mortars, he recommended pozzolana (pulvis puteolanus in Latin), the...
abraded or cut, often by hand, to a precise size. When laid with white limemortar, a neat finish of red brick contrasting with very fine white joints was...
bottle-shaped flue in a Norman-period kitchen, clay or sand bound by a weak limemortar would be used. Shaping could be done by eye, perhaps with the help of...
but the modern figure is formed from white-painted breeze blocks and limemortar. The Long Man is one of two major extant human hill figures in England;...
speleothem excludes secondary mineral deposits derived from concrete, lime, mortar, or other calcareous material (e.g. limestone and dolomite) outside the...
Pre-historic men also used bricks and lime plaster as building materials. For example, mud bricks and clay mortar dated to 9000 BC were found in Jericho...
Global Information