Pointing gritstone property

[Peakdistrict]

The gable on our gritstone barn needs repointing. It's been pointed badly some time in the past with cement, which has started to fall off.
I've started to rake out the joints, but want to re-point it using lime. I've done some pointing in the past, but never with lime. In your opinion, whats the best mix ratio to go for please?

 

[stuart45]

3/1 sand/lime is a standard mix, although it can vary with different sized sands and joint sizes.

 

[Peakdistrict]

The joints are anything from nothing up to 1"

 

[stuart45]

For bigger joints you need a coarser sand to give the mortar some body, but for really small joints a fine sand is needed. With finer sand, you need to increase the lime quantity.

 

[housewinnie]

If it is not a big area, check out Limebase premixed mortars, almost ready to go out of the bag with very little mixing required.