pink mortar stone wall

[thetyreman]

I was pressure washing a stone wall today and noticed that the mortar has a kind of pinkish hue, it appears to be lime based, I put some in distilled vinegar and it does fizz, I'm going to guess they used red building sand instead of sharp sand? it wasn't obvious before washing it how pink it is, what do you think?

cheers, Ben.

 

[Mike G]

Some areas of the country have very red sand, and that's what I assume we're looking at here, Ben. However, it might still be sharp sand. (It might not be, too, but "sharp" is a description of the size of the particles, not of the source or the colour). Interesting that there is no attempt at pointing whatever.

 

[thetyreman]

thanks mike, by the way it's for a front garden wall that a fence sits on top, so not really important but it is the first thing you see at the front of the property, I'm not keen on the colour now it's been washed, I'd prefer it to be white or off white, so was thinking of possibly re-building the thing or re-pointing during the summer time.

 

[Tiresias]

Hum. I am not a building surveyor (I have reluctantly associated with them when I was working), but on some of the red sandstone buildings up here red mortar is specified. It’s lime based, but the colour is either colourant or what they call ‘red sand’. That might be your pink. It’s still sharp sand.

For my own use I go to Masons https://masonsmortar.co.uk. They are very helpful.

 

[thetyreman]

after crushing a piece and then putting it in distilled vinegar it does appear to be some kind of red sharp sand thanks, it really stands out now because I'd never actually seen the mortar colour before cleaning, it was just a dirty brown covered in algae and possibly decades of road pollution.

 

[Old.bodger]

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