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MARBLE REPAIRS of CRACKS:

1. cultured marble- use polyester adhesive [ or epoxy ] for crack fill 2. white cement-use white Portland cement 3. real marble- use natural hydraulic lime

For Lime, he uses lime from St. Astier [ the company name ] and he had 3 bags of NHL 5, 3.5, & 2 [ strongest to weakest ].

On another note, he makes his lime mortars by hand AND he sometimes uses pre-mixed stuff [ just add water ] by a company named Daubois. They make both a pointing limestone [ XHN-60 ] and bedding mix limestone mortar [XHN-101 ] to set stones into bases.

Another product he uses is made by Lithomix , and it's a mix that hardens and can be carved with chisels to any shape. This is used to repair and replace large and small parts of sculptured stones that have a piece broken off.

EPOXY :

Sach uses CPD construction Products epoxy called Cipidite 15 [ clear ] Comes in 3.79 litre pails of parts A & B . Said CPDADITE Gel 15 clear on the can. Company address: 219 Connie Cres., Concord , On. L4K 1L4 905-669-5013

Per used a Sika epoxy

FACTS :

1. Limestone mortar stays in repaired cracks as it has some adhesive qualities. Sach mixes it very dry, and uses a light spray from a spritzer bottle to wet the stones before the mortar is applied.

2. Mason's Putty was invented around 1900, so if you find any old stones with a putty between the components, you know it was placed post-1900, regardless of the age of the stone. Mason's Putty has linseed oil in it.

3. Drill he uses is a Rotary Hammerdrill by Hilti or Bosch. Quick on granite . For example, a regular hammer drill on granite takes 30 minutes for a 6 inch hole. With a rotary hammerdrill it takes 4 minutes. Bits are 1. Relton, Arcadia, California. [ hard to get, last a long time ] and 2. Bosch # HCBG500 at Home Depot

4. Gets his chisels for sculpting from Gibsons in the US.

5. For small repairs [ like a broken off angel's wing ] , he uses natural hydraulic lime.

6. long discussion on what happens when you use epoxy to 'glue' stones back together. Sach claims that at the epoxied joint, soluble salts from acid rain [ both from the air and from the ground ] will accumulate above and below the repaired joint. These salts will erode away the stone above and below the joint. Best to use limestone mortar so the salts will flow through the stone and not accumulate in any one place.

7. Uses a non-hydraulic mortar grade lime putty in 30 litre pails from a company called: Liner Rolpanit Inc. North America, [ product called Rose of Jericho] , Thornhill, On. L3T 1N7 905-707-7087