Crumbly lime putty

[Helen Foster]

Hi all,

I wonder if any of you who've worked with lime putty could advise me please? I've used putty for re-pointing and plastering for around 3 years and have found that, as suggested, when stored well, it matures with age. However a recent batch I bought (Singleton Birch, my usual brand) looks nothing like I've seen before. Under the water it's hardish, crumbly and grainy. I called the supplier who insisted it would be fine, although she didn't seem to be familiar with it in this state. I asked if it could've been exposed to frost at some point and she strongly denied it. Does anyone know if this is OK to use - it mixes up OK-ish but I'm hesitant to spend days re-pointing fine brickwork to find it fails further down the line.

Thanks for reading,
Helen

 

[livias]

Yes that looks like it got frosted. It will take longer to fluff up evenly but allowing for that it will be fine to use

 

[Flyfisher]

I've no idea if that lime putty is OK to use (and have no reason to doubt Livias) but I personally wouldn't take a chance on it. Why risk of days of fiddly pointing work failing for the sake of a £20 tub of lime putty? I'd buy a fresh tub for the pointing and save this tub for a less critical job.

 

[Helen Foster]

Thank you Livias and Flyfisher for your replies - that's really helpful. I'm interested to hear from you Livias that even when frosted it's fine to use, I've learned something there (will fret less in future whether my duvet and bubble wrap protection around my putty in the shed is good enough!) I also wanted to know whether to ask the supplier to replace the tubs but didn't want to be a difficult customer if it really would be OK. Thanks to both again

 

[livias]

You definitely dont want to use it when it is actually frozen tho
After it has defrosted is fine

 

[skier-hughes]

I had this with a couple of my tubs, about 5 years ago.
All the work I've done with it has been fine since then.

 

[Helen Foster]

That's reassuring - thank you all