Property Renovation in France

Preparing the wall

First you will need to remove any existing pointing or render. This is best done with a pneumatic hammer and an air compressor which is approximately 50 times faster and easier than doing the job manually, and doesn’t leave you with terrible wrist problems. The hammer and air compressor can be hired or bought.

Next, your stone wall will need cleaning. Even if the wall looks clean you should do this, otherwise you will be pointing onto a dusty surface. There are two main methods available to clean a stone wall - sandblasting and high pressure washing.

Sandblasting is very effective, but also time consuming and dirty, requiring a mask and protective gear to be worn because of the large amounts of dust and sand flying around. It is a very good way of removing decades and centuries of grime from the surface of the rock. You will need an air compressor and a sand-blasting attachment, and some ’sand blasting sand’ - your building suppplier will understand if you ask for ’sable pour faire le sablage’.

Sandblasting has the other advantage that it can be used indoors where high-pressure water washing may be impractical. (Read on …)

See also articles on specific techniques for repointing stone walls, and materials - lime, sand etc - to use.

A pointed wall is dry, naturally well insulated, and provides protection against the insects and small animals that will otherwise enter your house through the walls. Old unpointed walls can look nice and rustic, but that doesn’t make them funny to live with when you have an invasion of flies in the house and a heating bill twice as high as it should be. They are also dusty and grimy, and impossible to keep clear of cobwebs etc. So I assume that you will at some point want to tackle the task of pointing them.

Specific techniques will vary according to your location since the type of stone available locally determines the building process used. The broad principles will always be the same however. (Read on …)