I’m starting to get the hang of re-pointing with lime mortar.   The pointing on the south gable was eroded to a depth of around 10-15mm and needs to be raked out and replaced.

I’ve found a local sharp sand which appears to match the original sand very well.  It is a plastering sharp sand from nearby Leighton Buzzard and contains aggregate up to 2mm.    The sharp sand I was using last year was concreting sand with a max aggregate size of 5mm which is much too big for bricks.

So far I haven’t found anyone to re-point the house but the job is taking me too long to be sensible.