Tuckpointed limestone with red tuck

Here we have the old heirtage Army base of Fremantle utilising a red tuckpoint,

This has been repointed since its original build being highly exposed to weather.

Early Fremantle limestone house tuckpointed

At first I thought this was the poor mans tuckpoint. A created recess then pointed with paint which was the case without having to place the tuck.  It was quite hard to tell without jumping the fence.
The tuck appeared almost flush with the point which would make it hard to use a frenchman.

The stone is probably from the nearby having the soil colours of a less consistent floor of stone. They were more than likely lose stones buried in a field rather than from a floor.

I love the colours, the flaws and the  inconsistencies.

Note the mortar colour which appears very much original it may be unslaked burnt lime sand.

I love  stone, collected stone, hand built, like art no machines. 

I want to time travel back for a week in this Australian history; immerse myself in the time.

Fremantle limestone and tuckpoint

Pinjar biscuit Fremantle past - Stone mortar pointing

And here we have one of Fremantle's formal early pieces with its non-hydaulic pieces uncovered to show what I discussed earlier where darker stone is revealed and possibly the evidence for darker lime washes we saw in the vernacular of Fremantle.

Here we see two colours. Both construction mortar and a lighter facing mortar. First stone buildings may also have had conch lime in the facing mix to increase strength.

While we now have penetrating sealers which harden stone exterior and prevent stone losing its colour to mold, evidence is present of a hydraulic Portland bag over the top.

This stone would have been chosen darker, slightly softer for facing.

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Tuckpointing, a section view of tuckpointing

Here I found today a great section view of tuckpointing. Here it shows the stopping laid over the joint, the tuck or whiting that is laid over the top.

Some of the whiting may be set wide of the real mortar joint to keep the joints aligned called a blind joint.  Bricks, even modern vary at least 2mm unless they are refractory.

Fremantle mortar limestone pointing peach in colour

Today I visited Fremantle again to see further proof of the old mortar almost a peach in colour or of terracotta to tan in colour.  In dealing with different limestone over the years it varies in colour tremendously.  Moore river stone is very biscuit in colour. 

Even a photo Ill publish later shows one of the early historic buildings with the layers of paint pretending to be white wash removed.

It clearly shows the stone to be quite tan in nature and the pointing to of two distinct colours. The construction mortar is quite dark, The facing mortar is a lighter tan almost a peach colour as discussed before.

I would say this stone for its softer attributes which allow for the pillow face finish it was given.  Many of the deliveries we receive from some quarries these days is extremely hard.  The axe bounces of much of this especially when there is a high content of cap rock.

The scrap of this stone would have been slaked on site along with the soil colour made up the larger mortar component attributes in both cases. Unslaked burnt fines of the stone would forming sand would make part of the mortar giving it the colour.

I dare say some of the old washes would have been given this light brown colour from the darker stone colour, less calcified no doubt an higher in silica I believe.

Here is an old Fremantle stone wall I found that is of what I believe an original point protected by an outhouse for years  under the cover of tin in a row of terraces. 

The image of the luxury building will show darker mortar samples again right on the harbour of Fremantle.

Non hydraulic mortars - The lost recipes

In the past non-hydraulic mortars were common place.  All manner of additives are added to extend and strengthen the mortar.  Mortars were handed down common to the vernacular.

Here is discussion of one:

The artisans of Chettinadu used a special recipe for the buildings that they built.

            The mortar mixture was almost the same as that which was used by Tirumalai
Nayakkar. 

            Sugar cane juice was used instead of cane sugar solution.

            The brickwork was done with this type of mortar. But the walls thus built were
covered with a special type of plaster.

            Again Conch shell lime was used. This was mixed with egg white, sugar cane juice,
nux vomica nuts, and the thin and soft flesh of young unripe coconuts(iLaniir valzukkai).

            This mixture is plastered. After some time, the plaster covering will be seen to 'sweat'.
This is pressed very gently with very high quality soft fine muslin cloth and the water droplets
are absorbed. 

            When the plaster covering is semi-hard, it is polished with a very smooth pumice stone(maakkal).

            When the plaster hardens, it attains a creamy lustre and seems to have a translucence
of its own.

http://www.visvacomplex.com/ancient_building_recipe.html
VIDYALANKARA
DR.S.JAYABARATHI
JayBee
MALAYSIA
Online:16/05/2013 

Pyramids built from geopolymer stones? - Limestone concrete

Pyramids made of concrete

Ive been doing some reading on geo-polymers.  Some information I already knew of the mix of limestone and clays.

While I dont doubt there is some stone in many structures, it is well documented even in The Great Wall of China geo-polymer was used with extensive use of sticky rice starch which is essentially a water thickener.

While many think people of the time were quite basic with low technology I think they had much greater knowledge than many think. To me the Egyptians and other societies such as Mayans were salt of the earth, very in contact with climate, nature, habitat and seasons. My guess is pyramids would have been used for many things such as navigation, surveying land and earth.

It is known amongst tradesmen that years ago using lime mortar, the tradesman would go to the mill and request millers flour which was essentially ground stalk releasing the cellulose from the plant.
This cellulose acted as a water thickener which made the non-hydraulic lime mortar fluid with a lower volume of water.  Less water meant less shrinkage, less weight and a harder mix.
The product now is regarded as methyl cellulose which is commonly used as the main ingredient in wall paper glue. Methyl cellulose is present in hydraulic lime and cement products today.

India use sugar which is different but in non-hydraulic lime mortar claims it increases non-hydraulic lime mortar strength by as much as 50%.

The great thing about non-hydraulic lime mortar is that  you can keep it covered for use with a skin of water and it will essentially not go off until it is exposed to air where re-absorption carbon dioxide sets it off .

Hydraulic mortars will go off with a very short life of about an hour dependant on heat to go hard with the advantage of going off underwater etc so they both have their place.

In looking at the grain principle, another byproduct of grain production is silicon dioxide, sodium silicate (water glass). This and similar other products are used for sealing limestone today to prevent mould and harden the surface to prevent corrosion.

Could have Egyptians used these byproducts of grain production to harden the stones & harden the skin, harden the evident render on the outer skin.

Could have Egyptians painted the pyramids with a limewash with silicon dioxide to form a glowing white hard skin, glowing in all their glory bright white in a harsh desert?

I feel the Egyptians would have used both these products and poured large stones in the pyramids insitu as is done today with concrete and similar reconstituted limestone blocks today.

The Egyptians could have poured the self leveling mix into the ground forming a perfect level footing for the pyramids. Using the concrete mix would explain the fine 1mm joints between the large stones.

Egyptians would have made a large mix then walked it up the pyramid, poured it one by one into boxes and formed cold joints where the mix met the stone.

I feel the pyramids were navigation aids, large white sparkling beacons where triangulation was used to ascertain distance, angle, seasons, climate upon their face.

They had Alchemists. They had knowledge. More than many grant them today.

Its interesting stuff.