I’ve been trying for some time now to find a suitable material to repair areas of stucco render and detailing on my 19th century property. Unfortunately, lime in its hydrated or hydraulic formats of 2, 3.5 and 5 has just not hit the mark with regard to strength or colour or ability to form moldings and I believe that what was originally used was something like Parkers natural cement.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Parker_(cement_maker)
It would seem however that nobody makes natural cement in the UK anymore due to our fixation with artificial Ordinary Portland cement and that the only natural cement manufactures tend to be small organisations located in France, Italy or surprisingly Switzerland.
And so, it’s France I’ve had to turn to, to find the solution to my problem, not to one of their cottage industry cement manufactures but to one of their larger concerns called Vicat and a product called ‘Prompt natural cement’
http://www.virginialimeworks.com/products/nhl/vicat.html
Getting products from the smaller producers is almost impossible unless you want to go on a long drive across the continent to pick up a few bags yourself. Vicat on the other hand do import to the UK and although their product is not the perfect match, with a trowel full of wood ash added into the mix, it’s the best match I’ve had so far.
Trouble is it sets in just a few minutes so if you have larger areas of repair you need to add their retardant into the mix to delay the set.
I managed to get my ‘Prompt’ cement from a local lime slakers/suppliers who have imported a quantity of bags. They advise me that its strength/breathability is equivalent to NHL 10 – 15 where as Ordinary Portland cement would be equivalent to something like NHL 40
Interestingly, I believe this product is often used in modern applications in France, e.g. tunnels, harbours, railways etc. as well as restoration projects.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Parker_(cement_maker)
It would seem however that nobody makes natural cement in the UK anymore due to our fixation with artificial Ordinary Portland cement and that the only natural cement manufactures tend to be small organisations located in France, Italy or surprisingly Switzerland.
And so, it’s France I’ve had to turn to, to find the solution to my problem, not to one of their cottage industry cement manufactures but to one of their larger concerns called Vicat and a product called ‘Prompt natural cement’
http://www.virginialimeworks.com/products/nhl/vicat.html
Getting products from the smaller producers is almost impossible unless you want to go on a long drive across the continent to pick up a few bags yourself. Vicat on the other hand do import to the UK and although their product is not the perfect match, with a trowel full of wood ash added into the mix, it’s the best match I’ve had so far.
Trouble is it sets in just a few minutes so if you have larger areas of repair you need to add their retardant into the mix to delay the set.
I managed to get my ‘Prompt’ cement from a local lime slakers/suppliers who have imported a quantity of bags. They advise me that its strength/breathability is equivalent to NHL 10 – 15 where as Ordinary Portland cement would be equivalent to something like NHL 40
Interestingly, I believe this product is often used in modern applications in France, e.g. tunnels, harbours, railways etc. as well as restoration projects.