The winter rain breached the bag of lime. I let the bag sat for months and I was ready to throw it away. But it was the best ~$10 bag of stuff I have ever brought. Yes the paper bag was wet. Water got to the lime. But the lime absorbs all the water, and didn't dry out.
So the lime was even better to use. There's no fine dust, which probably is the reason for the cancer causing warning label. Add water to the clay like paste and you have lime like before.
Squeezing pure lime paste into the gaps still isn't fast enough. The tip of the application cone still blocks from time to time. So even if it works, adding sand on top of the pure lime make sense.
Then I came up with the best method. Use masking tape for painting. You will use a lot of tape (unless you use it a few times each). But it only cost a few dollars. The one inch width type is more convenient. Taping it on the stones is pretty fast. It's the fastest and cleanest way to apply lime and sand mix. But your stone need to be straight and smooth.
When I used up an old tape I thought of making a stencil out of a plastic sheet. It worked pretty good. Not as nice as masking tapes but probably more convenient.
One tip is to fill the voids with sand or soil first. If you wet everything afterward, then the lime mixture will dry slowly and won't crack that easily. If the lime mix did not touch the sand or soil below, it will dry quick and crack.
The other tip is to cover the stone with sand afterward. Wet the whole thing. The covering sand will protect the work if the surface is not even. It's a easier way to keep the mixture wet after application, compared with a wet cloth. The sand will go into the mixture and give it color and texture, instead of brilliant white.
Showing posts with label masonary. Show all posts
Showing posts with label masonary. Show all posts
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Sunday, January 2, 2011
Permeable paving update
My permeable pavement proved itself during the flood. In my concrete paved area, tubes are laid underground to prevent flooding. But drains can be blocked. My permeable paved area dries quickly when the rain stops.
The drying paving technique doesn't work, using lime and sand dry mixture to fill the gaps. They will never turn rock solid and starts to wear off slowly, better than soil though.
My next idea will be filling the gaps with pure wet lime first, and then sweep dry sand on top and squeeze into the gaps. Filling the gaps with wet lime is quick, because without sand in it the tool will not be blocked easily. Add dry sand on top is clean and easy. Hopefully it works.
Unfortunately, my lime bag got penetrated during the flood. They may or may not be working anymore.
The drying paving technique doesn't work, using lime and sand dry mixture to fill the gaps. They will never turn rock solid and starts to wear off slowly, better than soil though.
My next idea will be filling the gaps with pure wet lime first, and then sweep dry sand on top and squeeze into the gaps. Filling the gaps with wet lime is quick, because without sand in it the tool will not be blocked easily. Add dry sand on top is clean and easy. Hopefully it works.
Unfortunately, my lime bag got penetrated during the flood. They may or may not be working anymore.
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Awesome green paving and patching material
My lime sand mixture is going places, more awesome than I thought. So awesome that I think that's why you cannot buy hydrated lime in hardware stores, anything but.
In building supplies you can get 50 lb for less than $15. If you keep it dry and from air in a plastic trash bag, it will last forever. Sand is free. Now I have the habit of bring back from vacation a cup or two of sand, and immortalize them in my pavement or part of the house. Any cheap sand in hardware stores will do. Lime will dominate the color - brilliant white.
The new dry paving technique for gap filling. You just mix dry sand and hydrated lime (white power) together, and pour the mixture onto the gaps. Then you use a push boom, or small brush, to put the mixture neatly into the gaps only, and take away excess mixture. Then you spray water on the mixture with a spray bottle for example, enough to keep the mixture from blowing away by the wind, and not to much to avoid rinsing away the mixture. The next day you can pour water on it gently to finish the re-hydration process and start the recarbonate process.
The bad. There will be a brilliant white haze on the paving slabs. It will blind your eyes like snow if you live in sunny areas. I don't know how long will the haze be worn down by walking and the elements - basically it's lime stone if left for long. May be months or years. Certainly acid can cleanup the haze with little damage to the gaps. There is the biodegradable CLR. I have no idea how effective it will be. The white haze is a small price to pay.
The gaps will be brilliant white. Is it a good or bad thing compare to gray?
The mixture will take a long time to dry and harden. It doesn't matter for paving. You can walk right after as long as your slabs or stones are securely fixed. Light rain doesn't matter. It will probably heavy rain proof after a few hours. My gaps hasn't been hardened yet. Using the wet technique with water added into a paste, the mixture will harden like any other mortar, after days or weeks.
The good. This method is lighting fast. The mortar is permeable - the green way to go. For me that's a way to drain water away without having a level and flat pavement.
You can fill pretty large gaps economically and easily, as long as the lime mortar don't carry stress. It can be hard as limestone, but it takes a long time.
It's natural. Lime is from limestone, and will return to the limestone state gradually if left on it's own. It's non-toxic (but strong alkaline). It's safe for the environment, because it was the environment. I wash the tools confidently in the bathroom sink. There's the cancerous label but I think that's for breathing the dust in long term. Wear a mask and only mix it outdoors.
What is the lime and sand proportion? I have used pure lime. It shrinks and crack a lot when dry. It doesn't matter because no strength is required. The wet mixture in previous post is a guide. Basically, imagine the lime powder glue the sand particles together. So you just put enough lime in the mixture, but not too much.
You can use it on tiles, but they have to be horizontal.
Now for patching work. It has to be the wet mixture unless your holes and gaps are horizontal. Basically you mix lime with water into a thick paste without falling off walls. Then you add sand without too heavy on the mixture. The surface will be sand rough and permeable.
I have used the mortar for outdoor patching, to fill the cracks from ants entering. If not for the ants I'll leave it as it is anyway. So permeability is not a problem. If you have a base that is non-permeable, it doesn't matter. And you can always paint it with a non-permeable paint. You can always add some Portland cement to make it like concrete, but that's a complication. And you are better off buying ready mixed patches.
In building supplies you can get 50 lb for less than $15. If you keep it dry and from air in a plastic trash bag, it will last forever. Sand is free. Now I have the habit of bring back from vacation a cup or two of sand, and immortalize them in my pavement or part of the house. Any cheap sand in hardware stores will do. Lime will dominate the color - brilliant white.
The new dry paving technique for gap filling. You just mix dry sand and hydrated lime (white power) together, and pour the mixture onto the gaps. Then you use a push boom, or small brush, to put the mixture neatly into the gaps only, and take away excess mixture. Then you spray water on the mixture with a spray bottle for example, enough to keep the mixture from blowing away by the wind, and not to much to avoid rinsing away the mixture. The next day you can pour water on it gently to finish the re-hydration process and start the recarbonate process.
The bad. There will be a brilliant white haze on the paving slabs. It will blind your eyes like snow if you live in sunny areas. I don't know how long will the haze be worn down by walking and the elements - basically it's lime stone if left for long. May be months or years. Certainly acid can cleanup the haze with little damage to the gaps. There is the biodegradable CLR. I have no idea how effective it will be. The white haze is a small price to pay.
The gaps will be brilliant white. Is it a good or bad thing compare to gray?
The mixture will take a long time to dry and harden. It doesn't matter for paving. You can walk right after as long as your slabs or stones are securely fixed. Light rain doesn't matter. It will probably heavy rain proof after a few hours. My gaps hasn't been hardened yet. Using the wet technique with water added into a paste, the mixture will harden like any other mortar, after days or weeks.
The good. This method is lighting fast. The mortar is permeable - the green way to go. For me that's a way to drain water away without having a level and flat pavement.
You can fill pretty large gaps economically and easily, as long as the lime mortar don't carry stress. It can be hard as limestone, but it takes a long time.
It's natural. Lime is from limestone, and will return to the limestone state gradually if left on it's own. It's non-toxic (but strong alkaline). It's safe for the environment, because it was the environment. I wash the tools confidently in the bathroom sink. There's the cancerous label but I think that's for breathing the dust in long term. Wear a mask and only mix it outdoors.
What is the lime and sand proportion? I have used pure lime. It shrinks and crack a lot when dry. It doesn't matter because no strength is required. The wet mixture in previous post is a guide. Basically, imagine the lime powder glue the sand particles together. So you just put enough lime in the mixture, but not too much.
You can use it on tiles, but they have to be horizontal.
Now for patching work. It has to be the wet mixture unless your holes and gaps are horizontal. Basically you mix lime with water into a thick paste without falling off walls. Then you add sand without too heavy on the mixture. The surface will be sand rough and permeable.
I have used the mortar for outdoor patching, to fill the cracks from ants entering. If not for the ants I'll leave it as it is anyway. So permeability is not a problem. If you have a base that is non-permeable, it doesn't matter. And you can always paint it with a non-permeable paint. You can always add some Portland cement to make it like concrete, but that's a complication. And you are better off buying ready mixed patches.
Friday, June 25, 2010
Perfect imperfection: Lime Sand permeable paving mortar
There's no permeable paving for residential use. Those permeable concrete and asphalt are ugly and hard to install. Usual permeable paving for the home are stone (or similar material) slabs, relying on the gaps between stones to drain water.
Why you want permeable paving? The big issue is to prevent urban runoff, with the rain and storm carrying dirt into the ocean. Soil around your home absorbs the excess water, and then release it up on sunny days.
But for the home owner, leveling a pavement is the big issue. That's impossible if you pave an old path or area with things there at different levels over the years. I tried to lay the stone directly on grass and let the grass die and let the stones sink a bit into the soil at different degrees. If your pavement or patio is not perfectly level (with a few degrees off to drain water), water puddles can form every time after rain or washing.
For home paving, you make a level bed of rocks and sand, then add the top layer of stones, brick or other slabs. Finally you fill the gaps with something.
I'm using like thin tiles of stone modules hold in place in a plastic grid. The untended side effect is that it can go up and down to fit my irregular base. With some modifications it would be a pleasure to install. Though you still need a good base. Sadly, the current design is unpopular because of a few flaws. I managed to get it cents for dollars.
Permeable gap fillers are aggregates of stone fragments or sand. If you don't fill it it will be filled with soil or dirt. The problem is that you can't brush it, you can't hose it. And if you don't fill it, insects such as ants like it very much.
Other ways to fill the gaps are more like mortars. The popular way is to use polymeric sand, easy to apply and some retains it's soft sealing property. But they are not permeable. I found about two permeable types on the web, but only available in Europe or commercially.
Modern mortars are impermeable, they will make sure of it to prevent water seeping into the whatever base.
My perfect permeable mortar is lime and sand mix, which is actually used for old buildings. Here it is:
1 cup water
2 cup Type S hydrated lime (~$14 / 50 lb)
2 cup washed plaster sand (~$3 / 50 lb)
Type S hydrated lime is the most common lime you can get from building material suppliers, except for the home improvement hardware stores because they don't think people will mix their own mortar. Any hydrated lime will do but you ,may have to vary the ratios. Standard lime allows the builders to mix consistence mortars.
Any sand will do but beware that if they are not properly graded (filtered), any large particle will block your grout bad tip, and you have no easy to unblock it but to empty your whole bag. Sea salt will affect the long term chemical reaction of lime reverting to lime stone, but you probably don't really need that. Play sand is probably OK - washed and safe to play on. Paving sand will not be OK because my grout bag was blocked.
The exact ratio is not critical. The above amount will give you mortar for some 10 sq ft of 5 mm shallow gaps. Add 1 cup of water to 2 cup of lime will give you a soft paste that will not drip. Without sand the lime will be very soft. More sand the finish will be rougher, may be stronger and may be more permeable.
Features
The mix is brilliant white. The color of sand is immaterial unless you have a very high proportion of it.
The lime sand mix is soft. You can crack it with your finger nails. But you can brush it or hose it without anything noticeable falling off. That's a big advantage over any aggregates. Even if you brush a little lime (and a little sand) off the surface, it just lime stone and sand, perfectly environment friendly.
The lime sand mortar is strong enough to glue lose stone or fragments into position.
I cannot guarantee that the mortar is permeable. But for me it's highly permeable. The mortar do not have strong adhesive properties attached to the stone, and pure lime shrinks a lot when dry leaving a lot of tiny cracks. As a result I tend to create a lot of tiny cracks during the filling process. They look beautiful with my natural stones anyway. If you use pure lime with little sand, the minute cracks due to shrinking when dry will certain be highly permeable. The other extreme is to use very little lime so basically it's all sand so it must be permeable.
Procedure
You have to use a grout bag, like apply cream to a cake. Lime will stain everything brilliant translucent white. Lime is soft and the stain will eventually fall off but fine dust takes time.
For 5mm gaps or larger, the tip of the bag should go inside the gap and you should fill the gap without the mortar overflowing out of the gap.
Then use a pointing knife to "point" the mortar. It's basically a sharp object to smooth out the mortar. If no mortar overflow outside the gap, you are done. Or you have to remove the excess mortar with a putty knife, which is like a pizza server, or anything with a thin strong edge. Excess mortar will stain the edge with a white haze. It doesn't look bad and it will wear off with time.
You should let the pavement from sun and rain for a couple of hours or days. The proper way is to keep it moist under a wet blanket. I don't do any of these, which defeats the purpose of easiness. The mixture dries out in a few hours at most, and good enough to brush and rinse the next day for certain. The carbonate process is a long term process.
Unused mortar dries very slowly with a lid on. You can do a little bit everyday or every weekend. The tools are easily washed clean with water. There's no environment impact because it's lime stone and sand. I pour the used water into other parts of the permeable pavement.
Hydrated lime is very alkaline before turning back into lime stone with carbon dioxide in the air. The lime is fine as dust. Maybe for this reason the package says there are cancer causing agents. I doubt if they have to add any chemical to lime.
Why you want permeable paving? The big issue is to prevent urban runoff, with the rain and storm carrying dirt into the ocean. Soil around your home absorbs the excess water, and then release it up on sunny days.
But for the home owner, leveling a pavement is the big issue. That's impossible if you pave an old path or area with things there at different levels over the years. I tried to lay the stone directly on grass and let the grass die and let the stones sink a bit into the soil at different degrees. If your pavement or patio is not perfectly level (with a few degrees off to drain water), water puddles can form every time after rain or washing.
For home paving, you make a level bed of rocks and sand, then add the top layer of stones, brick or other slabs. Finally you fill the gaps with something.
I'm using like thin tiles of stone modules hold in place in a plastic grid. The untended side effect is that it can go up and down to fit my irregular base. With some modifications it would be a pleasure to install. Though you still need a good base. Sadly, the current design is unpopular because of a few flaws. I managed to get it cents for dollars.
Permeable gap fillers are aggregates of stone fragments or sand. If you don't fill it it will be filled with soil or dirt. The problem is that you can't brush it, you can't hose it. And if you don't fill it, insects such as ants like it very much.
Other ways to fill the gaps are more like mortars. The popular way is to use polymeric sand, easy to apply and some retains it's soft sealing property. But they are not permeable. I found about two permeable types on the web, but only available in Europe or commercially.
Modern mortars are impermeable, they will make sure of it to prevent water seeping into the whatever base.
My perfect permeable mortar is lime and sand mix, which is actually used for old buildings. Here it is:
1 cup water
2 cup Type S hydrated lime (~$14 / 50 lb)
2 cup washed plaster sand (~$3 / 50 lb)
Type S hydrated lime is the most common lime you can get from building material suppliers, except for the home improvement hardware stores because they don't think people will mix their own mortar. Any hydrated lime will do but you ,may have to vary the ratios. Standard lime allows the builders to mix consistence mortars.
Any sand will do but beware that if they are not properly graded (filtered), any large particle will block your grout bad tip, and you have no easy to unblock it but to empty your whole bag. Sea salt will affect the long term chemical reaction of lime reverting to lime stone, but you probably don't really need that. Play sand is probably OK - washed and safe to play on. Paving sand will not be OK because my grout bag was blocked.
The exact ratio is not critical. The above amount will give you mortar for some 10 sq ft of 5 mm shallow gaps. Add 1 cup of water to 2 cup of lime will give you a soft paste that will not drip. Without sand the lime will be very soft. More sand the finish will be rougher, may be stronger and may be more permeable.
Features
The mix is brilliant white. The color of sand is immaterial unless you have a very high proportion of it.
The lime sand mix is soft. You can crack it with your finger nails. But you can brush it or hose it without anything noticeable falling off. That's a big advantage over any aggregates. Even if you brush a little lime (and a little sand) off the surface, it just lime stone and sand, perfectly environment friendly.
The lime sand mortar is strong enough to glue lose stone or fragments into position.
I cannot guarantee that the mortar is permeable. But for me it's highly permeable. The mortar do not have strong adhesive properties attached to the stone, and pure lime shrinks a lot when dry leaving a lot of tiny cracks. As a result I tend to create a lot of tiny cracks during the filling process. They look beautiful with my natural stones anyway. If you use pure lime with little sand, the minute cracks due to shrinking when dry will certain be highly permeable. The other extreme is to use very little lime so basically it's all sand so it must be permeable.
Procedure
You have to use a grout bag, like apply cream to a cake. Lime will stain everything brilliant translucent white. Lime is soft and the stain will eventually fall off but fine dust takes time.
For 5mm gaps or larger, the tip of the bag should go inside the gap and you should fill the gap without the mortar overflowing out of the gap.
Then use a pointing knife to "point" the mortar. It's basically a sharp object to smooth out the mortar. If no mortar overflow outside the gap, you are done. Or you have to remove the excess mortar with a putty knife, which is like a pizza server, or anything with a thin strong edge. Excess mortar will stain the edge with a white haze. It doesn't look bad and it will wear off with time.
You should let the pavement from sun and rain for a couple of hours or days. The proper way is to keep it moist under a wet blanket. I don't do any of these, which defeats the purpose of easiness. The mixture dries out in a few hours at most, and good enough to brush and rinse the next day for certain. The carbonate process is a long term process.
Unused mortar dries very slowly with a lid on. You can do a little bit everyday or every weekend. The tools are easily washed clean with water. There's no environment impact because it's lime stone and sand. I pour the used water into other parts of the permeable pavement.
Hydrated lime is very alkaline before turning back into lime stone with carbon dioxide in the air. The lime is fine as dust. Maybe for this reason the package says there are cancer causing agents. I doubt if they have to add any chemical to lime.
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