Pointing the Way

When we had the water tower surveyed we were advised that re-pointing overall was absolutely not necessary.   The lime mortar from 1876 was tough as nails.

A curious exception was the walls below the 10 foot high cast iron framed windows.   There, particularly on the west face of the building, the lime mortar was almost dissolved away, allowing draughts and dampness to penetrate.   Today it was remedied in fine style by Steve Roberts:

You can see the problem in the two un-pointed courses below the window, above where Steve is working.   And below - the result on one of the four windows that were affected.   The staining on the window outer sill stone indicates the presumably chemical reaction that was taking place from the run-off water from the windows.   Another super job on the tower by Steve.