Repairing Sandstone Edging

[Widget1983]

Hi guys,

We have a brick fence bordering the property and attached to the brickwork is a small-long harden bed about 150mm wide 290mm deep, length extends the length of the fence. The edging is brick but it's capped with sandstone (sorry, not sure the correct terminology/wording to use. I have attached pictures). The sandstone caps have come loose and would need to redo the mortar to stick them back down. The other thing is two of the sandstone caps have broken & would need to be repaired.

Question:

1. How would I go about fixing this? Knock away the old mortar, clean bricks and sandstone, mix up mortar that's suitable for sandstone+brick, then stick the sandstone cap back on, making sure it's straight ?

2. any idea on how to re-attach the broken pieces together again? Is there a special sandstone glue that can be used?

[droog]

Question:

1. How would I go about fixing this? Knock away the old mortar, clean bricks and sandstone, mix up mortar that's suitable for sandstone+brick, then stick the sandstone cap back on, making sure it's straight ?


2. any idea on how to re-attach the broken pieces together again? Is there a special sandstone glue that can be used?

1. Yes
2. Assuming pics 20240228_100810.jpg and 20240228_100747.jpg are the broken ones ? Dont do anything, just stick them down as per 1 with the ends butted together.

[havabeer69]

if you don't want to bother mixing motar theres quite a few exterior glues you could just slap them back down and be done with it.

Just a moment...

[Widget1983]

1. Yes
2. Assuming pics 20240228_100810.jpg and 20240228_100747.jpg are the broken ones ? Dont do anything, just stick them down as per 1 with the ends butted together.

Thanks Droog. Yep, those are the broken ones. I'll butt them together and see how it goes.

if you don't want to bother mixing motar theres quite a few exterior glues you could just slap them back down and be done with it.

Just a moment...

Thanks for the link, that might be a bit more convenient, though I'll probably have to mix up some mortar anyway. I had a look at the sandstone edge, there's no sign of mortar between each piece (like between each brick on a wall), yet they're not lining up & butting against each other without leaving a big gap. Quite confusing.

[havabeer69]

if you dont want to mix motar... I have another tube product for you.

[Widget1983]

if you dont want to mix motar... I have another tube product for you.

Thanks haveabeer . I'll have to look into those tubes, does seem easier, though price-wise, a bag of mortar is about $10, & it looks like I need to fill gaps between each sandstone slab, which is confusing. I'll look further into those tubes though.

[truckjohn]

With actual mortar, you can use a piping bag like for cake icing. There are disposable models fairly cheap, and even units which attach to zip-loc bags.

Honestly, though, these jobs always turn out larger than you thought because prep is EVERYTHING. Neither mortar, nor glue will stick through dirt, grass clippings, moss, or leaf mould. All the surfaces need to be cleaned and prepped. All the pieces need to be levelled when putting them in.

Then, there's the equipment, which you may or may not have. By the time you're done with the chipping out all the old mortar, scrubbing, digging, washing with TSP and the pressure washer, mixing trough and trowel and shims, it will be two whole weekends of work for something that seems pretty straight forward.

All this goes to say, you may be a lot happier just hiring it out to a brick mason. A couple hours in an evening or a weekend and he'll be done.

[GraemeCook]

That stuff that haveabeer recommends is easy to use and fine as long as you cannot see it - then it is horrible - in my view, at least.

Adding to the excellent advice from TruckJohn.

Your mortar should be a little softer than the existing mortar, so do some trials. You need fat sand and cement. Mix five test batches consisting on one spoonful of cement and 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 spoonfuls of cement. Let dry overnight and compare to the hardness of your existing mortar. Just a tiny bit softer is best.

I like to clean the bonding surface with a Karcher to make sure they are clean. Then mix some mortar to the test strength but with s tiny squirt of detergent added (washing up liquid is fine - this improves flow. Put the mortar in a plastic bag and cut out one corner - this is the piping bag TJ suggests. Pipe mortar onto bed, lay and align stones carefully. Wait 4-5 hours and clean carefully so you do not dislodge stones. Done.