Comments from a English customer restoring a house in South West France
I have never done any building work before using your gun & working with lime mortar as a first experience probably wasn't the best choice of materials for a novice, but the end result was as good as any professional could have achieved.
Yes, it was a bit daunting, but after having a go at the pool shed wall & seeing how good it ended up looking, I knew it had to be done.
I used a product called "tradifarge" that I bought from the local builders merchant here in SW France, it's basically the same as lime mortar, you mix it 1 to 3 with builders sand, it has to be accurate, otherwise you end up with a patchwork quilt effect.
My wife did all the mixing & I ran a bucket up & down the tower scaffold on a rope....
We worked a day on and a day off as we had other things to do & it took about 2 and a half months in total - so about 40 maybe 45 days work. Like I said, I had never done anything at all like this before & I wouldn't like to have to do it again. At the top of the building I could do about 2M by 2M per day. By the time I got to stand on the ground that was more like 4M by 2M.
It never ceases to amaze me what you can do if you put your mind to it.
I paid a local builder to re-point the end wall of the house in Autumn 2009, watched him do the job & thought "I could do that". It was definitely quicker with the gun rather than with a trowel like he used, but it would have been even quicker, with a bigger reservoir for the mortar (or perhaps smaller gaps between the stones....)
Hope I haven't bored you too much, feel free to use any of the photo's.
Best Regards
Gary
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