My experince in fugal New England is that only the last (outer) 
pointing mortar got the pigment.




On Apr 15, 2007, at 2:02 PM, Gabriel Orgrease wrote:

>>     (ruling out historically tinted mortars)
>>
>> When 19th century builders colored the mortar to bring out colors in 
>> the surrounding masonry, did they color the entire batch?     Or is 
>> it only the first inch or two?
>>
> c,
>
> It takes extra work to repoint the outer portion of brickwork on a 
> large building, say the B & N bldg. at Union Square w/ the steam 
> pressed brick and very thin "Coney Island" butter joints. The mortar 
> there, in different colors for different portions of the architecture 
> and for different materials of the facade, was tinted through and 
> through. My feeling is that this was the prevalent trade practice. But 
> I have also seen evidence of walls built with an untinted mortar then 
> followed up with a tinted top pointing. It would likely be work where 
> more expense and care was intended and les focused on optimal 
> production in the building process. So there is no exact yes-no answer 
> to your question. As our esteemed Mr. Edision has pointed out one 
> needs to look at the forensic evidence of the structure. Problem is 
> getting to see into the wall, which is where probes come in handy.
>
> FYI there is a point where the percentage of tint to mortar begins to 
> have what is considered an adverse effect on the strength of the 
> mortar. I do not remember where that point is at... seem to remember 
> people arguing over if it as 10% or 15%. For the most part I don't 
> need to worry about it. As to mortar analysis I suspect that it is 
> nearly impossible, certainly impractical, to determine what the 
> proportion of tint is within an existing mortar. When one wants to 
> match to an existing color of tinted mortar it is partly through trial 
> and error, science and art. Note that I did not include bull crap in 
> that recipe.
>
> ][<
>
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