Garden Wall..how high with Lime mortar ?

[DubblyDubblyDubbly]

A friend is having major grief. Their garden wall circa 1890 was collapsing so they got numerous quotes for a rebuild. Looked at the works previously done and decided on a very reputable stonemason, with several employees. They send along two guys who spend most of the day rebuilding a 9 foot high section. While they were on the job the whole lot collapsed. Turns out the stonemason has only been working with lime for a few months and admitted he had gone too high in too short a time. Friend is very distressed and requests a structural engineer to assess the work/damage. His first words were "what are you doing using lime, you should be using sand and cement". The wall was originally in lime. Can you go to 9 feet in lime and how long should it take to go that high. I'll try to get some piccies and a bit more detail.

 

[Tom]

Many structures are well aove 9' that have been built using lime and sand. I'd have a re-think about the mason / builder they use.

Jaqy

 

[Gervase]

No problems with building a wall with lime above nine feet. I've just finished one that's around 16 feet high. The stonemason's guys clearly don't know what they're doing, while the structural engineer is equally ignorant of traditional techniques. Where in the UK is your friend's wall?

 

[Flyfisher]

Is there any particular method/technique required when using lime for such a wall? i.e. could it have been a mis-application of lime mortar that caused the wall to collapse or should you be able to easily build a 9-foot brick wall with lime mortar in one day with no problems?

 

[MdB]

The end wall of our house is around 6m (20') and it is made of rubbish sandstone and mud. Parts of the wall are only 300mm wide at the base :shock: though most is 600mm. The same thing made out of lime would be far stronger though the mud version has lasted 150 years or so.

The thing with lime is that it is OK in compression but poor in extension, i.e. it a good packer but not great at sticking things together the same way cement can be used. It also takes far longer to reach its ultimate strength as compared to cement.

 

[Gervase]

It was dicussed on this thread: http://periodproperty.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=9806
It's also important to use 'tie stones' (they might have different names in different parts of the country) to bridge both faces of the wall and hold them together. The recommended ratio is one tie-stone per square metre of wall face, but more is better; I like to have one every third course or so at about four foot apart.
Ideally a wall should also have a 'batter' - that is it should taper slightly, getting narrower as it gets higher. Only an inch or so every six feet, but it helps.

 

[biffvernon]

And building like that, the lime is not the critical thing. You could use mud, or air, and it shouldn't fall down.

 

[skier-hughes]

And building like that, the lime is not the critical thing. You could use mud, or air, and it shouldn't fall down.

Dry Stone Walling.

 

[Moo]

Or this -