That job at the old church in Lexington that changed my whole approach to repointing

Back in 2015 I got a gig repointing the back wall of a church from the 1890s in downtown Lexington. The old mortar was so hard I snapped three trowels before I switched to a chisel and hammer method. An older mason on site showed me how the original guys used lime putty mixed with sand from the nearby creek. I still keep a bucket of that lime mix around for any older building work I do. Has anyone else run into old mortar that just refuses to budge?

2 comments

2 Comments

skylerc861mo ago

Sounds like that old mortar was just trying to teach you some respect, maybe it wanted you to earn the job the hard way. Snapping three trowels is a good way to realize your tools are just fancy suggestions, not guarantees. At least you got a bucket of creek magic out of the deal, that's not something you pick up at the hardware store every day.

oscar_hunt611mo ago

Cracked a smile reading that, especially the "creek magic" part. Reminds me of the time I tried to brew my own concrete sealer out of driveway runoff and old coffee grounds. Ended up looking like swamp water, smelled worse, and the neighbor's dog wouldn't come near my driveway for a month. So yeah, you're spot on about earning respect the hard way. That bucket of magic probably has more mojo than half the stuff you can buy.