What colour mortar can I have?

Anyone wanting purple mortar for a Tudor house: no, not my thing 😉

Birdhouse. Image on the website of Gladstone Pointing Limited, West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire

If you wonder what a different shade of mortar could do to the look of your house or if you think that just a small area of an otherwise sound wall needs to be repointed then this is for you.

What colours of mortar are possible?

Anything from white through brown/beige and grey is possible. You can even have small reflective lime flecks if you want some bling.

Gladstone Pointing can create different base colours of mortar by using different coloured sand (or no, or limited, sand at all in the case of white mortar – which is based on lime putty.

Can new mortar be matched to look like existing mortar?

Gladstone Pointing can make new mortar look weathered using natural earth pigments, without affecting the lifespan of the mortar. The image above was the same light brown as the original mortar and then had black natural earth pigment added to replicate the current look of the original mortar.

Natural earth pigments are expected to last at least 20-50 years. They are applied in a natural medium that has been used in many cultures since Egyptian times (including the UK in Victorian and Edwardian times). Egyptian wall paintings and Roman frescos that we can still see today use this method (though they were indoors and I don’t expect it to last thousands of years outdoors in the UK climate).