Working with Ecomortar Premixed Mortar

St Astier Natural Hydraulic Limes (NHL)

EcoMortar is a premixed product designed to provide all the benefits of traditional lime mortars for wider general use in the construction industry, particularly new construction and general building repair. EcoMortar eliminates inconsistency in mixes, commonly associated with site practice, allows greater flexibility and comfort to the specifier in choosing a lime mortar by eliminating many of the misconceptions of use quite frequent amongst contractors not experienced in using lime mortars.

EcoMortar contains a natural water retainer and air entrainer to improve the curing process, reduce the effects of moisture loss and aid workability. Because EcoMortar is made with properly graded sands it further reduces the need for contractors and speficiers to check local sands and aggregates for compliance. Well graded sands such as those used in EcoMortar reduce shrinkage, improve vapour transfer and workability.

In its basic versions, coarse (G type 3mm to 0.08mm) and fine (F type 1.18mm to 0.08mm) EcoMortar can be used in almost all building applications. For roughcast and harling coarser granulometry is available on special order.

Once applied EcoMortar will be durable, matching the performance of traditionally made lime mortars. The type G mortar is based on a moderately hydraulic lime (NHL 3.5), particularly suitable for normal, moderate and exposed climatic locations and is an excellent material for pointing and building, internal plaster base coats, finished renders and decorative surface finishes. The Type F Mortar is particularly suited to pointing and building tightly jointed masonry units and for finer finishing coats in rendering, coloured or plain and as finishing coats for internal plastering. It is also available as a pre-coloured material for scraped and textured finishes for architectural feature walls.

The range of colours available is vast and pigmentation is finely controlled to an extent that will guarantee the same colour in successive batches. The dispersion of the pigments is very high to ensure that no colour streaks will appear. The use of a pre-coloured material eliminates the need for painting.

EcoMortar is normally made to order and delivery is about 2 weeks. It can be applied manually or using suitable spray equipment available from St. Astier distributors.

The versatility of the St. Astier limes will allow special versions of EcoMortar to be designed for applications such as sacrificial coatings, smooth plastering, flooring. Please consult your St. Astier distributor.

EcoMortar offers the discerning builder extremely high vapour permeability ensuring that no moisture will be retained in the built structure. It also has a superior elasticity than cementitious products and greater natural workability. EcoMortar can be worked for longer period than cementitious mixes and has the qualities of lime finishes, warm and aesthetically very pleasing with colour tones and effects similar to lime washes but far more durable.

The absence of cement, ashes, gypsum and other pozzolanic additions together with its other qualities, make EcoMortar highly suitable for repair and conservation work on traditional, vernacular and historic buildings. In new build the properties of EcoMortar will allow joint free construction, dispersion of condensation and will accommodate small settlement movements.

You may wish to See Ecomortar Data Sheet and Protecting Lime Mortars