Trying to buy lime!

[Nemesis]

We need a smallish amount of hydraulic lime, in order to rebuild some flood defences. Don't wish to use cement.

Three builders' merchants in Hexham:

One doesn't do it at all.

Two can order - at min order of 50 bags.

Three can order - at minimum cost of £45 a delivery, regardless of size of order.

Ho hum. It's no wonder that people simply use cement!

 

[MdB]

Doesn't Jewsons sell it? (13 miles away)

 

[Nemesis]

Jewson's in Hexham was tried. Trades as Matthew Charlton.

Yes can get it, delivery charge of £45 no matter how small the order.

 

[Ian Bond]

£45 minimum delivery charge does sound steep to me.

For comparison, I pay £28 plus VAT for half pallet loads of putty etc to be delivered to me from my local supplier.

Total weight just over 500kg.

The suppliers premises are less than 12 miles away from me, but I think that everything's despatched from a hub somewhere in the midlands - I'm in West Yorkshire so that's a lot of road miles unfortunately.

Smaller amounts I can collect myself, but I'm stuck with that delivery cost for larger orders.

Just wondering if you've asked the Old House Store / PPUK shop about their delivery charges for your order?

Or contact details for St Astier to see if there's a more accommodating, and more importantly closer supplier.

Frustrating - every so often I hit problem like this, and either have to shell out extra £££, or keep on looking for an alternative. Or give up.

 

[Nemesis]

I'm sure we can sort something out, but you start to understand why lime isn't more widely used!

As for putty - haven't even tried to source locally. That way, I fear, madness lies.

(I know, I know...)

 

[biffvernon]

In France every builders merchant seems to stock hydrated and three grades of hydraulic, along with a little OPC. I guess it's a culture thing. Like cheese.

 

[Nemesis]

Hydrated isn't a problem, nor is good cheese - Birdoswald - but hydraulic brings very odd looks, and the recommendation to use hydrated with a bit of cement thrown in!


Grrrrr!

 

[Ian Bond]

Just wondering what they' have done in days of old, if local naturally hydraulic lime was not available?

Would a Pozzolan do (instead of cement)?

Mike Wye's site proclaims:

Metastar

A highly reactive pozzolan used to get an hydraulic set.

Also sold by Rose of Jericho:

http://www.rose-of-jericho.demon.co.uk/index1.htm

 

[Nemesis]

Well, we have ash we can use as a pozzolan - but we want to use hydraulic as it's partially under water. It needs not to be experimented with really, don't want another flood.

We will be able to get some I'm sure, at a price, it's just that you see why people use cement - we were looked at as if we were barmy, and asking for something very odd indeed.

 

[biffvernon]

I think Singleton Birch are the biggest producers of hydraulic in the UK. Lot's of interesting stuff on their website.

 

[Nemesis]

I thought of them.

 

[Gareth Hughes]

Can't you make your own?

Limestone, barbecue, etc etc

 

[Nemesis]

Not an area big on limestone. Indeed, not big on barbies either - too many midges.

Maybe go up the road and use this?

Possibly a source of lime when our barn was built!

 

[Ian Bond]

Do we have any of the 'right' kind of limestone in the UK for making naturally hydraulic lime?

I'd have thought it would be more likely to be found down south.

I realise that many limestone would contain impurities, and provide a very week hydraulic effect.

Just wondering how they got on when/if the right sort of lime wasn't available, but the engineering job demanded a strong hydraulic set (as in Nemesis's case)?

 

[biffvernon]

Do we have any of the 'right' kind of limestone in the UK for making naturally hydraulic lime?

Yes. Singleton Birch have a couple of quarries in Lincolnshire that produce hydraulic limes.

 

[Ian Bond]

Thanks Biff.

Still a long way by horse and cart over those dusty tracks to the wild border country where Nemesis lives.

 

[Nemesis]

Horse?

Bluuddy luxury...

 

[jason.p]

We must be lucky round here, Jewsons and another builders merchants both keep good quantities in stock( HL3.5 and usually HL5). We've also managed to get the price down a bit by playing one against the other

 

[glayzell]

go to jewson, open a trade account (£0), delivery is free.

 

[vicky whitworth]

Hi, early on in this post I think I saw a mention of using ash to help get a weak set with lime. I'm about to embark on re-building the tumbled down bits of my privy (rubble stone) and was a bit worried that just lime alone might not be robust enough in the dampness that is a dark corner of my garden. Could I use ash, and does this mean ordinary wood ash out of the fire? Thanks.