Internal exposed brickwork

[markwm]

We recently knocked off some blown blaster in the pantry of one of our houses. Left behind is exposed brick and very crumbly lime mortar.

Cost being an issue we can't afford to have it all plastered. In order to leave the exposed brickwork, either painted or unpainted (painted prefered) what can be done to stop the mortar crumbling away? Looking for a cheap simple solution really.

 

[chuckey]

Can't see an easy way. What ever you do you must not contaminate the surface so subsequent finishes fall off. If you had the money do you think that the plaster would hold the mortar in place? The thing to do is to rake out the loose mortar to a depth of 1" and re-point with a lime based mortar then wack on a scratch coat of lime render yourself. Its to keep the dust down not to look pretty. Cost £15 for a bag of lime + 3 bags of sharp sand at about £3 a bag and a an interesting Saturday away from the shopping.
Frank

 

[Lime]

If the mortar is really only dust I'd follow chuckey's advice.

However many people expect lime mortar to be hard and to be able to resist the digging actions of a screwdriver.
It doesn't.
Lime mortar will crumble if poked and there is nothing wrong with it!
Just leave it alone.

 

[worms]

Cost £15 for a bag of lime

Has lime gone up recently? That's about twice what I was paying last autumn!

 

[Lime]

Cost £15 for a bag of lime

Has lime gone up recently? That's about twice what I was paying last autumn!

Odd you should say that because that has been my experience.
I have regularly bought from Buildbase a common or garden bag of lime every 2 or 3 weeks for some months.
The first bag cost about £5 in November but every time I have bought another the price has risen again, to the extent the last time I was asked for about £15 too.
Having been forewarned on the 2nd or 3rd purchase I now take all previous receipts when buying so I can back up my argument about paying a lot less last time.
I then get a discount.
The last bag (about a week ago) eventually cost me just over £7.

 

[biffvernon]

The biggest cost factor in lime production is gas for the kilns. The price of gas is not what it used to be.

 

[Nemesis]

Bag bought end of last week was around nine quid. Common building lime - hydrate.

 

[chuckey]

Naylor and Myers in Leyburn were charging £19 a bag last summer, I took this up with Castle Cement, who were clearly embarrassed by the price. I actually pay £12 (St Astier) from somewhere else!
Frank