More stone repairs

Mark, our stonemason was back for the day to do a few repairs to the stone windows. Over the last weeks we have been repairing the dropping keystones in some of the stone window arches. Now that the new mortar keeping them in place has totally dried it is time to repoint them. We are not using the lime and sand mix, instead we will use a very hard drying stone repair mix. Once dried it can be sanded back and will look like original stone. 

Over the years much of the stone has been damaged or chipped. The limestone is quite soft and once the water finds its way in it will crack and break. This repair compound is great stuff and I have a feeling we will be using a lot of it. Sadly it is not cheap! Many of the stone window ledges and surrounds have had hinges or bars fixed into them. If they are not then sealed correctly the water gets in and then the whole stone just cracks. To repair it you need to clean it all out and then hammer in some oak wedges. These wedges stop the stone from dropping or moving, then you can fill and repair the crack.